DA The McDowell Books: Eight: How About No
by 00Tyler00
Summary: The McDowells find themselves separated due to the frantic search for Brac and must each fight battles on their own fronts in the race to find Brac...and the spine-chilling secrets that they each uncover...
1. Chapter 1

_Back after five days on the road in Wales for a volunteer project...which means I haven't been writing at all - not even a little bit. Subsequently, I've decided to post this final installment of the McDowell Books in chapter format to get the goods out quicker. Just a little reminder regarding my disclaimer in 'Prodigal' - it still applies. Other then that, please dig in and enjoy...oh and if you don't review, I'll just go on strike and stop posting chapters until my ego is appeased :P...Read on then! -- **Tyler**  
_

**The McDowell Books**

**By Tyler**

**Disclaimer: **DA and all its characters are the property of James Cameroon.

**Basic Outline**: Set fourteen years after Freak Nation. Max and Alec have been partners for thirteen years, still living in a largely-functional and swelling Terminal City. The Familiars are no longer at large although they still hunt transgenics with a passion. The world view on transgenics is now officially tolerant, although a great deal of the ex-Manticore creations still choose to reside in TC to live their lives free of discrimination. Max and Alec are largely still the heads of operation at TC, and balance their work lives with the raising of their two children, Brac (13) and Nyx (11).

**Book Eight:** The McDowells find themselves separated due to the frantic search for Brac, and while Alec spearheads the quest to keep the political hounds sniffing at the case off their backs, Max must face her demons as she plunges into the underworld of her race to find Brac…both X5s failing to notice what their daughter eventually uncovers – an impending war.

**How About No**

"Okay, you know what, Max? Enough. You wanna walk away right about now!" Alec had actually put down his glass of whiskey and was scowling at Mac's rigid frame leaning against the pool table.

"I don't think I do, Alec!" Max snapped as she tossed down the cue she had been holding and took a step forward, "You wanna take this outside? Cuz I got no issues with handing you your ass and trashing your precious lil' pool hall in the process!"

Alec laughed dryly and resignedly pushed away from the bar counter, sliding off his stool and shrugging at Max with a cold, deadly gleam in his eye that would have scared Max had she not been sporting one of her own.

"Bring it on, queen o' the desert!"

One month prior to the angry, crackling furnace of frustration burning between them, the two X5s would never have guessed at their exchanging blows in a full-on, physical fight of the caliber unique to their younger, more hostile years.

A full seven, agonizing days had passed since Brac's abduction, and Max and Alec were further away from determining their son's whereabouts now then they had been a week before. Alec had remained in Southview long enough to have Tarrant arrested and charged with conspiracy to kidnap (Casey's journal had been sufficient evidence for Detective Matt Sung), but the man was remaining tight-lipped under interrogation and so far Max and Alec had been denied visitation rights…for obvious reasons.

Southview Manor had been deserted by the time Alec had gotten to the building – although fresh evidence of the transgenic pack and their entourage of prisoners still saturated the place. The Manor was currently undergoing a forensic examination and DNA tests on smatters of dried blood and ID sweeps on random fingerprints were heavily underway.

But so far, nothing solid had been yielded as far as the transgenic's current place of residence – and Brac McDowell's location. After three days of fruitless hashing, Alec had returned to Terminal City under armed guard (in the form of Mole, Tank and Jace, who had threatened to tranquilize the man if he didn't come peaceably). He and Max were now in the full throttle of the search for their son, grateful for but (in their guilty, angst-ridden state) abusing the whole-hearted, selfless support of their transgenic comrade.

The icing on the cake was the fresh row Max and Alec had just undergone after she had marched into the pool hall at one in the morning and found Alec sitting alone, knocking back shots and dishing out a particularly mordant breed of sarcasm.

She'd asked what was eating him and for once he hadn't pretended everything was alright. Alec had gone on for a full ten minutes about how the hell he'd winded up mated with children was beyond him, how it had never been his plan to shoulder the responsibility of the transgenic nation, let alone father children. He'd moaned about the glory of his former days and dropped hints that South Korea had offered him a sweet package deal in exchange for a Monty Cora comeback.

Max had been more angry then she had been hurt and shot down Alec's dream-birds with a scathing set of particulars – such as the fact that he _was_ the head of ITU and already a politician in his own right whether he liked it or not, that he _had_ a family for which he was and would always be responsible, and that Monty Cora wasn't going to be stepping back into the ring anytime soon if she had anything to say about it.

Things had gotten uglier and uglier as verbal jabs were exchanged, and what had eventually gotten an otherwise smug, smirking Alec riled up was when the subject of Brac cropped up. He'd told Max to drop it but she hadn't been in a listening mood, and proceeded to inform Alec that digressing fully into cocky young bike messenger of former days as he had prior to Brac's disappearance had only made matters worse and had hurt his son a heck of a lot more then all the thrashings Alec had ever given Brac put together.

That had bitten. Badly. Alec had gone deadpan after that and told Max she had not idea what she talking about, told her to shut up and walk away.

Max hadn't wanted to. She'd wanted to slug it out as badly as Alec had, though neither was willing to admit it. So now it was down to a good ol' fashioned sparring match, plain and simple.

The first blow went to Max. Alec always afforded her a single, undefended hit - it was a transgenic custom between mates to which he still adhered out of respect for Max (much to her annoyance).

Max jumped forward and swung a kick out. Alec took it in the stomach and doubled over slightly before his head whipped up dangerously and he grabbed Max's leg as she moved to kick again. The fight was now officially on.

He caught her ankle in the crook of his arm and swung out a foot, knocking at her other leg and sending Max onto her back. She responded instantly with a scissor move from which Alec jumped back only to get a tennis shoe to the chest as Max slam-kick up into a standing position.

They circled each other for a brief moment before launching into a vicious fight, moving with lightening speed, exchanging blows and kicks with a flurry of graceful, deadly movement. The fight was as brutal as it was awesome, however, and it wasn't long before broken pool cues and chairs took precedence over fists.

Max stepped back from where she had just dive-tackled Alec through one of the plywood counters just in time to avoid the leg he swooped out that would have knocked Max to the floor with its sheer force. Alec spin-flipped up, not stopping to wipe the blood from his lip as he charged into Max, ignoring a solid fist colliding with his head as he grabbed Max by the shoulders and threw her clear across the room.

Max landed on the pool table with a thud, sending a triangle of balls scattering across the floor as she winced briefly and did a push-up to regain her footing. She had no time to do so, however, when Alec was on top of her, flipping her over onto her back and planting a slug into her solar plexus.

Max blocked his fist the second time it came around and clamped her knees against Alec's rib cage, pushing him into a roll which landed Max on top as she laid into Alec with a set of jabs.

The X5s wrestled in this manner for an agonizing few minutes, each one gaining the upper hand and losing in turn. Finally Alec's weight advantage had him pinning Max to the pool table and crushing her arms underneath his knees. Max struggled and kicked up her legs, knocking into Alec's shoulder blades but only managing to send him lurching forward momentarily from the weak angle of her kick.

Alec grabbed Max's shoulders and lifted them up before slamming them onto the table forcefully. "Max, _enough_ o' this!" He yelled between grit teeth, panting from exertion and shaking with anger and guilt, "Come on, snap outta it, we're killin' each other here!"

"Yeah well till it becomes all _me_ killin' _you_, I'd sorta like to keep on goin'!" Max hissed as she used her stomach muscles to raise her head and shoulders off the table and glare into her mate's eyes.

"Yeah and what are we gonna tell Nyxie when we come home lookin' like we've just gone ten rounds with the Hulk, huh Maxie?" Alec was still furious, but it was a different kind of rage at this point. He was angry with himself and with Max for their foolhardy, impulsive fight which was already teeming with potential repercussions in the form of bruises and blood on both sides.

Max's eyes lowered and she slammed her head against the pool table in frustration. "Fuck!" She whispered, and then pulled in her lips as her dark brown eyes filled with tears, "Jesus, Alec, what the hell's happening to us?"

Alec shook his head and shifted his knees off Max's arms as the young woman moved her hands over her face and sobbed. Alec leant in and rested his forehead against Max's, closing his eyes and falling silent as his mate let spill the dam of tears she had been stoically repressing for just a little too long.

Breaking Benjamin's 'Diary of Jane' softly moaning from the tipped-over jukebox encased the war-zone of a pool hall in a blanket of morose tranquility. Max's sobs deepened as the heavy emotional melody strained into her ears.

"I miss him, Alec! I miss him so damn much…" She closed her eyes tightly only to force them open again as she felt Alec's temple (which was still pressed against her own) begin to shudder.

"Shut up, Max…"

Max reached up her lean, bare arms, scratched and bruised as they were, and wrapped them tightly around Alec's shoulders, crushing him against her chest as the two X5s unleashed the flood of tears, safe in the confidence of the one's unwavering faith in the other.

Their watches beeped out 'three AM' in unison as the X5s entered their apartment silently, Alec limping ever so slightly while clutching Max around her waist tightly to support the vicious sprain in one of her ankles. They had just gotten the front door closed and Alec was easing Max's heavy winter jacket off her shoulders when both X5s glanced up and then exchanged a look.

"Nyxie?" Max called out, the faint sound of heavy sobbing from the bathroom ringing loud and clear in her transgenic hearing as she and Alec moved quickly to the door and the latter rapped a set of knuckles against it.

"Nyx, you okay in there?" Alec called out in a slightly rougher tone, his eyes narrowed and his lips set into a tight purse of concern as their daughter gave no reply but to belt out more shuddering sobs.

Aside from being smothered in her first _real_ blanket of over-protectiveness since her infant years, Nyx had been largely (though not intentionally) ignored by her parents since the battle for Brac had begun. Neither Max nor Alec had paid her much attention – except to inform her that she could consider herself under the non-punitive equivalent of house arrest until further notice – and Nyx, bless her little Guevara heart and McDowell soul, had taken it on the chin and gone about her business… quietly, matter-of-factly, without barely a word of complaint or anxiety.

"Nyxie, we're comin' in, okay?" Max called out softly after furrowing her eyebrows questioningly at her mate and receiving a worried scowl and nod in response.

A desperate hitch in the crying and a muted "No, don't!" sounded from behind the bathroom door.

"We just wanna talk, baby, I promise!" Max insisted as she took the small tool Alec was extending to her, "Nyxie, I'm opening the door now – don't be scared; it's just Mom and Dad, okay, kiddo?"

The lock having been picked during her soothing reassurances, Max cautiously turned the door handle and peered into the bathroom, Alec's head leaning over her own.

Nyx was curled up in the space between the toilet and the bathtub, knees pulled up tightly to her chest and back turned to the doorway. Her normally silky brown hair was knotted into a thick mass of tangles, but what was most disturbing (and was what subsequently captured both Max and Alec's attention at once) was that their daughter was clad only in pajama pants and a cotton tank top …and her pajama shirt was soaking a water-filled sink with spots of fresh blood staining the sleeves and water.

"What happened?" Alec rushed to Nyx's side, crouching down and gripping his daughter's shoulders as he turned her to face him. It was then that he caught sight of the ugly grooves slashed into the underside of Nyx's left arm. "Holy shit…"

"I'm sorry!" Nyx half-yelled, half-sobbed, eyes and face red from what had evidently been hours of crying as she glanced pitifully up at Alec's horrified face.

"Max, she's bleeding – get a towel!" Alec barked out, but Max, true to her nature, had already assessed the need and was handing her boy a hand towel with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"Here, come on." Alec wrapped the towel tightly around Nyx's arm to stem the bleeding (which, he noted with relief, didn't seem heavy enough to be flowing from any major arteries), "What happened?" He repeated insistently as Nyx bit her lip and coughed on her sobbing.

The young girl shook her head and closed her eyes tightly as fresh tears coursed down her cheeks, "I'm sor…I'm so sorry, Daddy…"

"Quit apologizing, Nyxie, and come out with it!" Max snapped, her tone changing from anxious to upset as she noticed the blood-stained kitchen knife sitting next to her daughter's bare feet.

"Max, take it easy!" Alec glared up at her, and Max's lips tightened and her eyes widened dangerously as she bent over Nyx and scooped up the knife.

"I'll 'take it easy' when she spills the beans about what _this_" Max held up the offending item with an aura crackling with lightening, "is doin' in the bathroom!"

Alec stared at the knife with a face full of confusion before a light turned on his eyes and he twisted to fix Nyx with a steel expression.

"I didn't mean to!" Nyx bawled loudly, mournfully and angrily as she looked up at her mother, tears streaking down her cheeks, "I tried so hard to be strong for you guys but it was just too damn hard! I'm only eleven for fuck's sake!"

"Yeah well most eleven year-old's I know don't go cuttin' themselves up when there's a problem!" Max replied, fear and outrage lacing her tone as she waved the knife and then tossed it in the sink.

That comment sparked Nyx's Guevarian temper into full bloom and she scowled acidly at Max before screaming out her response, "Well most eleven year-old's _I_ know don't get their _brothers_ freaking kidnapped and have parents who _ignore_ them when it happens!"

"Both o' you shut up, _now_!" Alec roared with enough force to silence both his girls as they glared with hurting eyes at each other. The silence that ensued was filled only with Nyx's rescinding sniffles and the dripping of the leaking tap into the pink-tinged, water-filled sink. After he was satisfied that some semblance of calm and order had been established, Alec swept an arm under Nyx's knees and another around her shoulders as he lifted her in his arms.

"C'mon, let's get your arm fixed up." Alec's tone was not warm but neither was it icy, and he felt Nyx relax ever so slightly in his grip as he carried her to the living room and snagged the First Aid kit Max was quietly extending to him with one hand as he adjusted the other to grip Nyx around her waist and under her thighs, keeping her firmly in his arms.

"What happened to your guys' faces?" Nyx muttered, avoiding her father's gaze as Alec placed her on the sofa and Max flicked on the overhead lights, "Did you get into a fight?"

Alec pursed his lips and ignored the question as he silently went about the task of treating Nyx's cuts. After only a brief moment, though, the X5 sniffed and shook his head before he let out a quiet, choky sentence.

"Jesus, baby, why the fuck would you hurt yourself like this?"

Max's eyes welled up with tears at the heart-rending tone in her mate's voice and leant her elbows on the top of the sofa, leaning over Nyx and waiting for a response.

"I…" Nyx wiped at the droplets on her cheek with her right hand and bit her lip before continuing, "It just hurt inside too much…and I thought that if…if I did something to make it hurt on the outside it would distract from the other pain."

Max pulled in her lips and Alec rubbed a hand over his face. They understood – although it didn't dim the horror and tripled the load of guilt they'd both been carrying. After all, had their vicious fight only hours before really been under any different circumstances then the ones which had triggered their daughter's breakdown?

The answer was a mean-ass bitch; it _wasn't_ any different. Not really. Nyxie didn't have anybody to spar with, or chances were she would've merely laid into said individual instead of taking matters into her own hands.

But she was Max and Alec's baby – their only little girl.

Max snapped back to reality as Alec leant forward until his face was only an inch from Nyx's. She could only view the top of his hair, but the quiet, almost whispered words which came from her mate's lips painted an expression of deadly soberness on Alec's features for Max without her needing to double-check.

"Just…promise me somethin', okay?"

"O…okay…"

"Promise me you're never gonna do this to yourself again."

Nyx's fingers curled tightly around Alec's as she eyed him so intensely that the man could've sworn he was looking at an eleven year-old Max Guevara.

"Promise me we're gonna find Brac…and promise me he's gonna be okay."

Max listened intently for her mate's response. Alec went quiet for a moment before his soft, low rumble picked up again.

"Much as I would love to, Nyxie…I can't…I can't promise that."

That was that. Alec _had_ never and _would_ never lie to their children. Not about something like this – not something that mattered. Max closed her eyes and felt a single tear roll from underneath her long, luscious eyelashes. _But oh how much good it woulda done me to hear you make our baby girl that promise, Alec._

Nyx's hand left Alec's and she slunk away, face darkening as she shook her head, "Then I can't promise either."

Alec cupped Nyx's chin firmly but not roughly and turned her to face him, "We're gonna need you to, Nyxie."

"Or _what_?" Nyx yelled, pushing away from her dad and standing up, "You're gonna hide me while I'm bleeding all over your favorite pair o' jeans?"

"Oh I'm gonna bandage you up _real_ well first, no worries _there_, girlie!" Alec snapped in response and then instantly regretted his outburst as he saw the look on his daughter's face. "Now listen – we're sorry we haven't been there for you! Alright? We haven't exactly been handling this whole thing very well ourselves, and that's wrong and we apologize!"

Nyx's shoulders sagged slightly and she glanced up at Max, waiting for her mother's ten cents.

Max nodded with a firm expression on her slightly bruised face, "Seems we've all forgotten the cardinal family rule: everybody sticks together. So that's what we're gonna be doing from now on, okay? And startin' from now out, nobody's hurting _themselves_ or anybody _else_ anymore, we all got that?" She eyed Alec and Nyx intently.

"Sounds like a plan." Alec agreed with a purse of his lips.

"Only exemption bein' whoever took Brac – they go down hard and fast and all three of us get a turn at punching!" Nyx added adamantly, swinging her clenched fist for emphasis and bringing amused, heartfelt smiles to her parent's faces. Normally, Nyx would whine about how nobody ever took her seriously merely because she was 'the youngest', and mutter on about condescension.

But just then, the grins setting Max and Alec's otherwise blank or darkened faces alight with a moment of raw jubilance made Nyx McDowell's day. The young girl broke into a wide smile herself and then held out an open palm to both her parents.

"C'mon, straight up!" Nyx actually giggled for the first time in a week as both Max and Alec laughed and indulged her in a McDowell-family-hi-five.

"And straight back down," Max concluded as she jabbed knuckles with Nyxie and then placed a hand on her shoulder, "to _bed_ with your ass, come on!"

Nyx's face suddenly scrunched into a worried expression, and Max narrowed her eyebrows, "What's wrong, hon?"

"I…" Nyx sniffed and then cast both Alec and Max a pleading glance in turn, "Can I sleep with you guys tonight?"

"Course you can, baby." Alec stated as though it was the most ridiculous thing in the world that his daughter would even have to ask such a question, placing an arm around her as the three headed to the bedroom. "You uh havin' nightmares or somethin', sweetie?" Alec flashed Max a worried look over Nyx's head, and she responded with one of her own.

Nyx scoffed, evidently somewhat ashamed of the need to be within the warm, protective presence of her parents' king-sized bed yet also willing to admit that she was deeply distressed. "Yeah that and the fact every freaking thing in sight's somehow remindin' me o' Brac!" She yawned and almost stumbled over a pair of Max's hipsters that lay on the floor as they walked into the master bedroom.

"See like _those_," Nyx nodded at the clothing as Alec sat her on the bed and started to pull off his over-shirt while glancing at the trousers with a squint of confusion.

"Your mom's _pants_?"

"Hope your bro hasn't been wearing'em when he thinks there's no-one to creep out!" Max whispered in mock-revulsion, trying to keep the conversation upbeat as she unzipped her sweater and eased it off her shoulders, the beside lamp Alec had thoughtfully switched on (Nyx still slept with a nightlight) illuminating her tank-top and arms in a warm haze of orange.

"No it's just…he hated those pants on you, Mom." Nyx stifled another yawn as she crawled under the covers and allotted the back of her head an equal portion of both Max and Alec's pillows, "He was always like 'they make her ass look _way_ too nice and it's anythin' _but_ nice when she gets freaking 'oogled' by a hundred pairs of eyes'." The young girl smiled in satisfaction as Max eased bed on her right and placed a hand on her thigh.

"Tuh…yeah…" Alec was whispering with a poignant smirk on his features as he rested a hand on the door handle on his way to switch off the front room lights, "Brac was always sayin' 'oogled'. Never switched to 'ogled' even when Rait showed him the dictionary…"

Max smiled wistfully at the memory, tracing the pattern of the bedspread and then looking back up at her mate as Alec moved to leave.

"Said 'oogled' just…_sounded_ better." Max added softly as she caught Alec's eyes and maintained her smile, "Boy was always about how somethin' looked or smelled…"

"Or tasted." Alec grinned softly, catching on as he observed that Nyx was slowing nodding off, "Remember that dinner when Josh made mac 'n cheese and Brac said that 'everybody, everywhere' should eat 'Big Fella's Mac 'n Cheese' for dinner every single night?"

Max's smiled broadened as she stroked Nyx's hair with one hand and used the other to prop herself up onto her side, "Got food poisoning for a week and still refused to admit that Josh's out-of-date macaroni had anythin' to do with it!"

"Yeah well that's our boy for ya – what can I say?" Alec muttered dutifully before he and Max both went quiet at the memory of Brac's harrowing sickness. Then Nyx's steady, rhythmic breathing filled the awkward silence and both X5s spent one full minute - out of the precious night hours they would both devote to any project besides sleep – staring at their daughter.

Then the spell was broken by the sound of Max's pager going off and Alec's hasty scramble to mute the object before it woke up Nyx – and to determine who exactly was audacious enough to be disturbing his mate at that ungodly hour.

"Who is it?" Max sat up to lean back on her palms and nodded at the device. Any phone calls, text messages or emails coming in had her and Alec's stomachs in a knot each and every time. It was unlikely that the Seattle Squatters would attempt to contact the pair, but Sung or _anyone_ for that matter with even a small semblance of a lead would be welcomed at any hour of the day or night.

Alec shook his head as he looked down at the number flashing across the pager's display screen, "No clue. I'll give'em a ring and find out though."

"Alec, _I_ should do it." Max swung her legs quietly over the side of the bed and stood up.

"S'okay, Max, I got this one." Alec waved the pager with a tired smile as he started down the hall.

"It's _my_ pager; they'll be expecting me to buzz'em back!" Max insisted, walking after her mate, bare feet hitting the freezing tiles as Alec bent down and hit the power button on the desktop computer…most likely to check the mail for the thousandth time that day.

"Max, it's okay, it's not important!" He snapped, "Will you just get some sleep already? Nyx didn't crash out in our bedroom cuz she thinks our mattress is more freaking comfortable, you know!"

"Yeah well as I recall, _I'm_ the one who goes nights without sleeping and doesn't crash and burn the next morning here, Alec!" Max hissed in frustration, and Alec growled in like manner.

"Which is why you're the perfect one to take the baby!" Alec shot back as he thumbed in the number on his cell phone and then held it to his ear…only to have Max grab the device and attempt to wrestle it off him.

"Max, give it back, c'mon!"

"_You_ give it back – you're the one who stole my pager…" She replied through gritted teeth and then pulled a spin-twist that loosened Alec's grip on the phone enough for her to wrest it from him.

"You're such a bully!" Alec whined as he rubbed his twisted wrist and then smacked Max sharply on the ass when she laughed in triumph. "Just like with the baseball, Max…"

"Shut up!" Max interrupted him mid-sentence as the phone connected and a male voice crackled at the other end of the line.

"Branston here."

"Guevara here. Can I ask how you got my pager number?" Max held up a finger to silence Alec as he opened his mouth.

"Well it is on your list of contact numbers in your file, Miss Guevara." The man responded coolly, "I'm Ted Branston, personal secretary to Mr. Johnson."

"As in the secretary to the Secretary of Defense." Max raised her eyebrows with a sarcastic smile, "Sounds impressive – what can I do for you?"

"You've been scheduled a press hearing at a conference here at the White House for tomorrow afternoon. You'll be given a chance to issue a statement from the ITU regarding the lawsuit filed against you for tax fraud."

_Lawsuit?_ Max felt her nose scrunch up, "I wasn't aware things had progressed to that level."

"Yes well your phone lines have been clogged and as for personal delivery, well…" Branston cleared his throat, "I trust you can understand how the particulars of the environment inside of Terminal City make such action..._risky business_, to pull a classic."

Max smiled tightly and Alec's eyebrows fell at the telltale sign of anger. He eyed his mate closely as she responded.

"Of course and uh…what's your excuse in regards to the Internet, Mr. Branston?" Max glared at the naked light bulb above her head and waited for a reply. After a split-second, she was met with one – as smooth as honey.

"We considered any further attempts to contact you besides the means we've already employed as _intrusive_ in light of the recent tragedy befalling your family, Miss Guevara."

Max's eyes squinted and she tilted her head, "Tragedy?"

Alec's eyebrows arched and he moved closer, placing a hand on Max's shoulder and pursing his lips with a darkness rising in his face.

"The abduction of your son. It's been three weeks now, I believe." Branston didn't miss a beat.

"Didn't know that was common knowledge." Max snapped in response, and Alec's brow narrowed dangerously.

"Really, Miss Guevara! You must be aware that as head of the nation's defense system, my employer would keep himself abreast of any situation with a potential to endanger the American nation…"

"Yeah and I'm really not seeing how my son's kidnap ties into any of this!" Max barked sharply, feeling Alec's hand grip her shoulder tightly and fighting back the urge to cry. Max had never been one for wearing a poker face when it came to politics – which was why she usually left wading through that particular shark pit to Alec.

"Brac McDowell's now the centerpiece in a vicious match of terrorism versus justice, Miss Guevara." Branston sounded icier then before, "We have no idea what these people's demands will be and we have no clue as to their identity…"

"We already know who took him." Max replied coldly, "They were transgenics. You can leave this one to us."

"Exactly! And the matter now stands that the child of two major political heads is now in the hands of a dangerous set of criminals who could be anything from terrorists to zealots! The situation could escalate into a supernova at any moment. America is _not_ prepared to 'leave this one to you', Miss Guevara!"

"And the _ITU_ is not 'prepared' to allow a bunch of government boot prints mucking up any chance we have of tracking these people down and working this out peaceably, as a nation!" Max's voice was breaking slightly, "And in case you didn't get that, lemme make it real clear for you, Branston: you send in troops, you're dead!"

"Alright, that's it." Alec shook his head and stepped in front of Max, "Max, gimme the phone."

She scowled fiercely but complied, evidently seething and the verge of reaching through the wire and breaking every bone in Branston's body. Alec's face was set in the blank, non-expressive way it often was when he dealt with officials, but his jaw was clenched and a flicker of anger licked in his green eyes.

He held the phone to his ear and brushed back a long bang out of Max's face. She flinched and pulled away, eager to be gone before Alec caught on that she had began to cry. Max walked quickly into the bedroom as the sound of Alec's calm rumbling filled the hall.

"Hello? Yeah, who's speaking?...really, well this Alec McDowell, Head o' ITU affairs – also Brac McDowell's father, by the way…oh really? Well it was just in case you're one o' those knuckleheads they don't clue in on things…"

Max shook her head and wiped at a stray tear as she pulled out a duffel bag and began stuffing clothes inside. Nyx was still sleeping soundly, and Max smiled briefly at the serene young girl as she packed an overnight bag for her trip to Washington before Alec caught on and started employing all sorts of horribly unfair tactics to prevent her from going…again.

Sure enough, just as Max was rolling up her towel and fitting it into a corner of her bag, Alec's frame appeared in the doorway, casting a shadow on night-light's glow.

"Fucking asshole…" he muttered, and then went quiet for a moment as Max, back turned to him, continued to silently pack. "Max, what're you doin'?"

_Don't turn around, Max. One look at those sad green eyes o' his and Alec'll have you over a barrel_. She shrugged and forced a calloused edge into her voice. "Gotta head to D.C for a press hearing tomorrow afternoon. Figure I may as well leave now, clear my head."

"I don't like it, Max."

_Too freaking bad, Alec_.

"They'll be broadcasting live." He continued in an equally stony tone as he absently picked up a sweater draped over the desk and tugged at the fabric, "All it takes it one o' White's guys catchin' the footage and he'll bag your ass – they've got men all over the place, Maxie!"

"Yeah well they're not gonna risk anything in front o' the media," Max responded tartly, her teeth gritting together as she shoved her toiletry bag inside the duffel, "Besides, I was thinking of goin' by chopper. Dix can handle the bird we got last year and if I ask Sung, I'm pretty sure he'll dish out an escort…"

"Max, I don't like it! You're not going – end of story!" Alec barked out, anger flaring up fully in his eyes, and Max spun around to glare viciously in response as she slammed down the toiletry bag.

"I don't care, Alec!" She hissed, "You're not calling the shots on this one! I gotta think about what's best for us right now!"

"You wanna do what's best, Max?" Alec snapped, aiming a finger at her dangerously, "Why don't you try gettin' your stubborn head outta your ass and keeping it behind the line of fire for a change?"

Max crossed the distance between them and jutted her chin in Alec's face. "I was doing fine long before you rode into my life on your White Charger and decided I was some prissy lil' _maiden_ who needed your _protection_!"

"Yeah and you'd be six feet under a hundred times since then if I hadn't been around to keep your reckless ass in check!" Alec would've found the very insinuation that his entrance in Max's life had been remotely fairy-tale material (maybe something from those morbid Grimm brothers might've been realistic) terribly amusing on any other day. But Max's 'white charger' line had rung a bell which had now brought on a whole new tangent.

"I mean, you 'n Brac, you're always the ones marchin' off on your own steam, pissing on the world and then sayin' you don't need help! But you know what?" He raised his eyebrows and glared down at his mate, "_I'm_ not gonna let that happen…"

"Alec…"

"To _either_ of you! So why don't you just pipe down, keep your head in the game and outta your ass, and everything'll work itself out!"

"Alec!" Max yelled, loud enough to cause the X5 to stiffen and pause in his verbal onslaught. Max rolled her eyes as Nyx moaned in her sleep and then held her mate's face with her eyes determinedly. An outburst such as that one would've earned any other man a slug to the head, and it was only Max's deep respect and concern for Alec that prevented him from receiving said treatment.

"When we were slugging it out back at the pool hall, you told me to snap outta it, well now it's my turn!" Max raised her eyebrows sternly as Alec's eyes met her own, "I get that you're upset…"

"I'm not upset!" Alec stated incredulously, "I'm fucking freaked outta my head here, Max! I mean, we just lost one o' our kids and now you wanna go runnin' off to Washington on your own…"

"Brac is _not_ lost." Max cut him off with a cracking voice and stone cold eyes.

"No he isn't," Alec responded quietly, "We just can't find him anywhere, is all."

She looked away at that remark and Alec sighed before continuing.

"You know what? Go to Washington if that's what you wanna do."

"It's not about what I _wanna_ do, Alec." Max replied somewhat mournfully, "I _have_ to do this."

He pursed his lips and gazed at the floor for a minute before locking eyes with Max.

"Haven't we given enough, Max?"

She didn't skip a beat, "Not to the people who matter."

Alec swallowed and was silent for a moment, feeding off the courage in his mate's chocolate eyes. After a full minute of quiet, he spoke up.

"Do you have to go right away?"

Max cracked a soft, half-smile at the question. She understood perfectly what Alec was asking, begging her for – a dual exchange of strength and bravery between a tigress and a lion, a moment of passion to fuel the fires of determination that each would need for their separate battles.

A brief moment later, Alec's lips, teeth and tongue were working their dangerous magic as a dynamic trio on Max's mouth, causing her to gasp in pleasure and anticipation. Max forced herself to hold back long enough to pull Alec out of the bedroom and into the living room – then the volcano of desire erupted unabashedly, and X5's 494 and 452 reveled in a well-deserved but fleeting moment of reward.


	2. Chapter 2

_Here's the next chapter -- a little shorter then the last one, but I figured this was a decent place to stem the flow since I only had a small window of time. Hope it 'delivers'! **-- Tyler**_

"Miss Guevara!"

The staccato flaring of a hundred cameras flashing, the padded microphones emblazoned with the emblems of a myriad of TV networks, and the blaring noise of a sea of reporters all yelling their questions over each other didn't seem the petite, stunning woman in the slightest. In fact, she seemed to be completely unaware of their existence as she stalked confidently onto the stage and shook hands briefly (and brusquely) with the Secretary of Defense.

Dressed in a chocolate-colored skirt-suit which complemented her almond eyes, and sporting a sleek mane of hair gathered into a sturdy, sophisticated knot at the nape of her neck, Max Guevara cleared her throat as she took up her position at the speaker's pulpit.

She wore a calm, collected expression on her beautiful face which did little to belie the cyclone swirling in her eyes as she shuffled a stack of papers and then began to speak.

"Good afternoon, America. As you're all aware, I'm here to issue a statement on behalf of the International Transgenic Union…"

"Miss Guevara, what can you tell us about…"

"I'm _not_ here to argue or to answer questions of any shape or form." The woman's voice raised slightly as she continued, "Rest assured that throughout the entirety of its existence as a legitimate political faction, the ITU has always adhered to every requirement set down for us by the United States government."

She raised an eyebrow coldly, almost amusedly, "We've been upfront and straightforward in our dealings with said government and have yet to be provided with sufficient grounds for the unjust accusation made in regards to alleged tax fraud."

Here, Max held up a stack of papers, "I have here authentic receipts for every tax payment made by ITU for all income received, and am more then willing to allow an inspection by the proper governing bodies." She nodded with a raise of her eyebrows, "As they will be found to be legitimate and therefore sound proof of its innocence, ITU has nothing further to remark about this issue."

The flurry of responses began to barrage her before the last word had even left her lips – full, luscious lips which were now tightening into a line as the reporters bombarded Max Guevara with questions.

"Miss Guevara, what about your son? Can you shed some light on the rumors that Brac McDowell has been abducted?"

"What's ITU's stance on the kidnap of your son?"

"Have the kidnappers made any demands yet?"

Max's expression suddenly melted into a warble of static as the TV screen fuzzed out. The young man sitting in front of the device let out a groan of frustration and reached out to bash it.

"Stupid piece of trash! Damn aerial's busting out on us!" He hissed, and a grotesquely thin, peroxide-blonde tutted at him from her position just outside the doorway.

"Well smashing it in with your fist ain't gonna help it, Kell!" The woman frowned at dark red syringe she was holding up to the light and flicked the needle, "Now come on and dose up while its still nice and warm!"

'Kell' muttered something under his breath and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a pale, muscular arm as he scowled at the TV. "You'll never guess who crawled outta the woodwork to strut it on the big screen, Bren!"

The woman rolled her eyes as she inserted the needle into a prominent vein and drained the syringe of its contents. Suddenly she let out a gasp as the TV static ceased and Max appeared once more.

"Well I'll be!" Bren shook her head as she watched Max turn the pulpit over to Johnson and walk determinedly off the stage, "That's a whole lotta nerve to be showing after your son's just gotten snatched! Wonder where they get it from…"

Kell snorted as he flicked the remote and adjusted the channel, "I wondered where the _boy_ got it from. Now my question's laid to rest!"

Bren sneered and pulled her sweater further down to cover her exposed hip bones, "Yeah well lucky for us, kid's fast asleep…"

"Finally!" Kell threw back his buzzed head in relief as he brushed some crumbs off his shirt and twisted to face his fellow transgenic, "How'd you do it, knock him out?"

Bren shook her head as she sauntered back through the doorway, "Didn't need to! He was out like a light when I went to take some juice." Her voice grew fainter, "Figure it's the loss of blood, if you ask me!"

Kell narrowed his eyes, "Yeah about that…we gotta ease up on the dosing, Bren, or he's gonna dry out on us!"

"No worries, Kelly-boy!" The yell echoed jubilantly down the hall, "Brennie's not gonna let that happen to 493's only little nephew!"

Kell smirked and issued a loud, token laugh before he hiked up the volume on the TV, "Fucking bitch…" He muttered under his breath, standing up and glancing around casually before striding out of the disheveled, moldy sitting room and down a cold, dank flight of stairs.

Kell's nostrils flared in disgust and he batted a hand in front of his nose as he made his way into a basement floor, "Been sprayin' Freshen Up in this place for nine days now and it still smells like dead rats."

"Hello?" A desperate, frightened yet determined voice rang quietly through the musty darkness. "Is someone there? Please, we need food!"

Kell rolled his eyes, "Ah fuck." He hazarded a quick glance up the staircase before heading to the location of the voice. After only a moment, the X6 paused outside of a decrepit, bolted wooden door.

"Hello?" The voice, young and frightened, came again, and Kell sighed in annoyance before replying.

"What?"

"Please, we need to eat something!" The girl called mournfully through the doorway, "A crust of bread, some raisins – _anything_!"

"You've _had_ lunch!" Kell insisted, knowing how weak the protest sounded when compared to the desperate plea the young girl was pitching.

"It's never enough! There are seven of us here – c'mon, you have to help us!" There was a pause for a minute before she spoke again, "It's you, isn't it? The boy with the buzzed head?"

Kell winced and cursed under his breath, glaring at the door, "I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, keep your mouth shut."

"That kid…" Casey Trendon had been the only one of the seven ordinary captives to ever lay eyes on Brac McDowell during an escape attempt on the boy's part. "The one you're keeping in the staircase room – he's gonna die unless you get him to eat something!"

"Shut up." Kell barked, all the while wiping at his damp forehead and feeling the truth of Casey's statement with growing anxiety.

The stubborn loudmouth was right. Brac McDowell had given his transgenic captors a run for their money during the first two weeks of his hostage period. Despite his weakened state, the teenager had pulled at least seven shots at escape and nearly gotten away with three of them. After fourteen days of captivity and repeatedly having small doses of his blood siphoned out of his body, however, Brac had finally become too weak to continue his efforts.

But the kid hadn't given up fighting back. Instead he'd simply started refusing any sort of sustenance and had been hooked up to an intravenous tube for the past four days, strapped to a trundle bed in a dark, musty room underneath the basement staircase.

Kell, who had come idolize X5-493 as a legend among the transgenic race, had been fending for himself since Manticore's demise and – like the others in his pack – had been subjected to a large amount of brutal discrimination and abuse. Bitter and confused, he'd joined up with Bren, the cold-hearted X5 who was calling the shots on her team of 'elite' – the 'Gideon's band' of transgenics who would raise an army and enforce martial law amongst their own race.

Their objective: the dissolving of the US government and total, dictatorial control of North America.

Kell hadn't been sure that Bren's interesting methods of _recruitment_ (that was what she was calling it anyway) were entirely pure. So far, she'd had them abducting young men and women from various states, setting up bases in which to hold them, and then dosing up the youngsters (Bren only targeted the ones whose medical and academic records showed them to be as perfect as an ordinary could get) with transgenic blood.

Bren's somewhat more rustic recreation of Manticore was just in its fledgling stages, but Kell had to give it to the woman that signs of promise were glimmering on the horizon. Already, a steadily rising number of the altered ordinaries were progressing rapidly under the influence of the transgenic blood – and heavy, daily doses of propaganda.

Brac McDowell's blood was only flowing in the veins of Bren, Kell and two other specially selected X's out of the entire pack. Kell didn't know whether he was meant to be feeling grateful or guilty. Truth be told, he hadn't felt any physical difference after having Brac's blood injected into his stream, but the confidence boost had been a whole other high.

Bren held 493 in the highest possible esteem – it actually bordered on cultist worship and had creeped Kell out a little at first. Still, since then the young man had come to idolize Ben to the same degree as the rest of his abused and twisted comrades.

Kell sighed heavily as he hovered outside the door of Brac McDowell's prison. He blew out another breath and then shook his head, flipping back the series of locks and bolts before twisting the handle quietly.

Matter-of-factly discussing the idea of siphoning small doses of blood from the nephew of X5-494 was one thing. But looking at the thirteen year-old boy laying limp on a trundle bed, wrists and ankles restrained with leather straps and sallow, pale skin that was stretched over a worryingly lean, chiseled body…

Kell felt his gut twist up as he stepped into the musty room and stared down at Brac.

That was something else altogether.

Kell shook his head morosely and pushed the door quietly shut behind him, cruching down beside the trundle and shaking Brac's shoulder.

"Kid! Wake up!" Kell insisted, giving Brac another jostle as the boy stirred and muttered something in his sleep.

"C'mon, you're gonna eat something! I've brought you some food!" Kell sighed inwardly with relief as Brac's eyes, bleary and rimmed underneath with dark circles, fluttered open.

Brac swallowed and squinted at the X6 squatting over him. "Dad?" His voice was cracked and hoarse, a faint whisper laced with broken hope.

"Not in this lifetime, kid." Kell responded sharply before reaching into his jacket pocket and producing a Mars Bar of chocolate, "Here – brought you something to eat."

Brac eyed him and then the candy with a stony expression as tears glimmered in his eyes. Then he turned his head away and rested it back on the pillow.

Kell's lips pursed for a minute before he tried another tactic. "Look, you're gonna need the energy if you're ever gonna try another shot at getting outta here."

Brac's ice-cold silence spoke volumes.

It barked out to Kell that seven fruitless escape attempts had obviously taught Brac McDowell there was no way in hell he was going to 'get outta there' on his own.

It yelled the fact that his parents (arguably the most lethal partners on the globe when it came to combined strength, talent, intelligence and resources) were on the hunt and _would_ find Brac sooner or later.

It screamed at Kell to get the fuck out of the room.

Kell left, without another word, securely locking the door once more and heading up the staircase in search of food for the ordinaries.

_Ordinaries who aren't exactly' ordinary' anymore_…

Nyx McDowell shook her head and stabbed a fork at the television screen in front of her.

"I _really_ don't like the look o' that guy." She muttered from between a mouthful of food as the Secretary of Defense addressed the press crowd who had only minutes been harassing Nyx's mother about Brac's kidnap.

"Yeah, me either." Stace, the blonde, X6 beauty for whom Brac had been going strong over the last eight years of his life, crinkled up her nose and popped the cap off her Coke can. "Got that whole slime-ball thing goin' on, if you ask me." Stace grinned and nudged Nyx from their position on the sofa, "Bet he swings it from behind."

"Hell yeah!" Nyx laughed and then paused with a lost expression on her face, "Okay I give – what's that mean, swinging from behind?"

"The hell are you guys watchin' over there?" Alec's voice demanded roughly from behind the kitchenette, and Stace threw back her head and laughed.

"What's funny?" Nyx demanded, becoming increasingly frustrated with the mystery and raising her head to peer at Alec. "Dad, what's 'swingin' from behind'?" She called, and Stace began laughing harder, pressing a hand over her mouth and wiping at her eyes with another.

"Nothin', baby!" Alec called in response, and then after a moment, his voice sounded again, "Stace, what're you telling my kid, man?"

"Nothin', baby!" Stace crooned out between giggles and gasps for air, and Nyx rolled her eyes, muttering under breath as she hiked up the volume on the TV.

"Mom did good, Dad! You'd be proud!"

"Huh." Alec's grunt of response echoed down the hall. Nyx wasn't sure why, but for some reason, her dad hadn't paid any attention to the press hearing being aired that afternoon.

"Yeah, she even wore a poker face! It was rich!" Nyx called out, slouching in her seat and shifting her moccasin house boots on the coffee table, "You know what, I'm full. I can't eat the rest o' this – you want it, Stace?"

Stace frowned at the still-full plate of food being extended to her and didn't take it, "Girl, you ate like two bites of it. How can you be _full_?"

Nyx shrugged in a vain attempt at being casual, setting the plate on the floor, "Suit yourself."

"So dinner's on the counter, 'kay, guys?" Alec appeared in the living room area, wiping his hands on a dishtowel which he then slung over the top of the sofa while pulling on his jacket, "Just gotta stick in the micro for a couple o' minutes and bang, you got a TV dinner all laid out for ya."

"Well look at Alec the housewife!" Stace giggled as she twisted around to face the man, and Alec threw her a cocky smirk in response as he threw a backpack over his shoulder.

"Yeah, funny. Right…" He slapped his hands together and pointed at the girls, "Don't leave the house for any reason, don't start any fires, don't hire any strippers, and if you need me, call my cell!"

"Dad, we're not five!" Nyx pouted sourly, and Alec grinned.

"Knowin' _you_ two when you get together," He winked, "I'd still be havin' to say this even if you were a hundred!"

Stace scoffed in mock-offence, "And when will you be back then, _father_, to grace us with your presence?"

"Depends on how fast it all goes down." Alec shrugged evasively as he leant over and kissed Nyx on the forehead. "Be good, you hear me?"

"You too, and don't get dead." Nyx's response was as dry as it was humorous – and there was more then a ring of sincerity to it.

Alec snorted softly and clutched his heart, "What, this badass? Nah, I'm too sexy to get knocked off!" He winked and ruffled Stace's spiky mop of hair. "See you guys around."


	3. Chapter 3

"Somethin's gotta give here, is all I'm sayin'!" Mole puffed heavily at his cigar and raised his eyebrows determinedly at Joshua. The canine nomalie's soft eyes were wide and helpless, and he was shaking his head as he attempted to hide from Mole's insistent glare behind the art pallet.

"No…Max and Alec are grieving." Joshua responded in an evasive mumble, "Enough on their plates already without worrying about…about…" He paused and waved his paintbrush, sending a smatter of turquoise paint droplets in every direction, "Joshua outside."

"You know, you ain't their son, 'case you're wonderin'!" Mole snapped indignantly.

"Not son – more like…brother." Joshua responded with a wistful smile, and Mole growled in frustration. "Was 'Uncle Josh' for years with Brac and Nyxie."

"I don't have time for this!" Mole insisted with a dour frown as he pushed up from his chair and stabbed a finger at Joshua, "Either you're in or you're out! There's no two ways about it!"

Joshua rolled his eyes and continued to swipe long strokes across the canvas he was painting, "Wouldn't help anything."

"Like hell it wouldn't! You're built like an ox and could just about break a man in half – almost did with White if I recall!" Mole invaded Joshua's 'artist space' (an invisible, two foot circle which surrounded the nomalie and his canvas and which, when invaded, was likely to rile him up).

"Shut up about White." Joshua turned and eyed Mole coldly, and the latter raised his eyebrows mockingly.

"Oh, I'm sorry – you don't like the guy? Well may I remind you he's already kidnapped your 'nephew' once and for all we know is gonna find a way to wrest Brac off o' the S.S sooner rather then later if we don't freaking do something!"

"I'm not going with you, Mole!" Joshua fairly yelled the answer, "Now get out of my house."

Mole's brow fell. "Fine." He said stonily, raising his hands as he backed away from the incensed nomalie who stood glaring sharply at him. "It ain't your funeral – but it might be Bracs."

Mole shook his head and cursed under his breath as he turned the handle on Joshua's front door. He was almost outside when he heard it – the soft call that he hadn't been sure was coming.

"Wait."

Joshua was standing in front of his canvas now, wiping his hands on a rag and gritting his teeth at Mole. "I'll go."

"No." Max insisted for what felt like the hundredth time as she paced her hotel room and gripped the phone in her hand tightly, "I already told you, Cindy – everything's under control."

"Sugar, don't be givin' me all that 'everything's fine' crap you an' Alec love to throw our way!" Original Cindy insisted on the other end of the line, "Sketchy an' I can be there in a flash if you need us…"

"Thanks but it's okay!" Max sighed as she threw herself onto the bed dejectedly and pulled her hair of its knot, "I appreciate the offer, but I got this one – honest!"

O.C scoffed, "Honey, I just got off watchin' your press statement earlier, okay? And trust me, you done look ready to drop off dead! When's the last time you and Golden Boy got some shut-eye, hmm?"

Max shrugged with a raise of her eyebrows and a slight shake of her head, "I dunno…a week ago maybe?"

"Boo, you have _got_ to take it easier on yourselves!" O.C remonstrated, "Now I know it's hard, but you can't go lettin' things slide the way you have been. Ain't gonna help Brac none at all if you and Alec show up to bust him out and then get aced by the baddies cuz your _eyelids_ are shutting off!"

"I know, it's just…" Max shook her head and rubbed her face, "It's like living in hell every day – not knowin' if he's alive or dead…feelin' like you'd do _anything_ to get him back but just…" Her eyebrows tilted up sadly, "not even bein' able to."

"Just gotta have faith, boo." O.C's gentle words stirred a memory in Max's mind, "This'll all work itself out aiight in the end. Just gotta have hope and keep your chin up."

"I guess." Max responded distractedly, her mind wandering back to the incident many years ago – Logan's unconscious, critically ill frame surrounded by wires, tubes and doctors…the helplessness, terror and guilt that had overwhelmed Max and had driven her to find refuge in a place she'd never thought to search it out.

"I gotta go." Max snapped back to reality, almost hearing O.C's nod of consent at the other end of the line.

"You sure you're gonna be alright without me?" Her friend queried dubiously, and Max smiled.

"Yeah. Well you know, you could always buzz Alec and see if you can persuade the proud-ass to let you stick around the flat." Max smirked at the mental picture, "You'd have to get a blood transfusion, though – and good look with gettin' _that_ one outta Alec."

"Are you messin'?" O.C sounded fed up, "Boy ain't even in Terminal City. I talked to Baby Boo on the phone like ten minutes ago! Alec's off on some chase o' his."

"Didn't tell me anything." Max scrunched up her eyebrows in concern. She'd suspected Alec would grow restless and dig up new leads on the kidnapping. But for him to skip T.C without even giving Max a heads-up?

Her smart-aleck boy was up to something iffy – and Max would be damned if she didn't find out what.

"Hey O.C?"

"S'up, boo?"

"I know this is kinda sudden, but I gotta ask if there's any wy you could head over to T.C and look after Nyxie…"

O.C's laugh tinkled over the phone, and Max's tone grew worried.

"It would only be for a couple of days, just till I can sort a few things out!"

"Easy, big mamma – Orginal Cindy's gotcha back!" The 'nubian princess' tutted, "Shoulda just asked me in the first place. What went an' changed your mind?"

Max raised her eyebrows and blew out a breath, "Just gotta catch up with my boy before he twists anybody's head off and it'd be easier knowin' Nyxie's hanging with you."

"You think he's goin' to pay Tarrant a lil' visit?" O.C queried with concern, and Max shook her head.

"I dunno. I hope he doesn't but somethin' tells me Alec's up to no good. He only ever skips out on me when he's doin' something he knows I'll kick his ass for."

"Well just be careful, aiiight?" O.C sighed and then suddenly hissed, "Dang, boo!"

"What is it?" Max demanded, and O.C scoffed.

"Just realized I'm gonna have to wring my blood tran outta Mole's scaly ass what wit' you and Alec runnin' off!"

Max laughed, "I'll call Nyxie to tell her you're comin' over and I'll ask her to do it while I'm at it."

"Honey, "O.C sounded angry, "Ain't no way Oringinal Cindy's gonna take a drop of Baby Boo's red stuff! Girl's weak enough as it is!"

"Whaddya mean? Said you talked to her – is everything okay?" Max felt her heart begin to pound. _Man, motherhood has got me whipped_.

"Uh well she didn't say nothin'." O.C didn't sound terribly distraught – but then again, she never did. "Just I could hear one o' her friends askin' if she wanted somethin' to eat, and Nyx was sayin' how she wasn't hungry or whatever. S'probably nothin', boo – girl just loses her appetite when she's all wound up, same as you is all."

"I guess." Max's lips tightened as she heard a small scuffle outside her door and her fist involuntarily curled tight. "Just try and get her to eat when you're there…"

"Quit mopin', girlfriend! I'm on it." O.C crooned glibly and then cleared her throat, "Right, you gotta go. Talk to ya later, aiight?"

"Love you, Cindy." Max was standing now, eyeing the door to her hotel room with sharp, brown eyes. "Catch you soon." She hung up the phone and then turned to fully face the doorway.

Somebody was outside.


	4. Chapter 4

Max raised a cautious eyebrow and felt her body tense warily as a set of knuckles rapped briskly across her door

Max raised a cautious eyebrow and felt her body tense warily as a set of knuckles rapped briskly across her door. She moved quickly to open it (no sense in beating around the bush) but was totally thrown by the face that greeted her.

"Zack…" Max gasped in a whisper, eyes glued to the tall, blonde man who stood at her threshold.

"It's so good to see you again, Maxie." Her big brother pulled her into a tight embrace, and the awkward tense of his body as a former hard-line C.O squelched all of Max's doubts as to his identity.

"Zack, what're you doing here?" She pulled back in shock as Zack released her and moved them both quickly into the hotel room, shutting the door behind them.

"White's guys got the drop on you." He answered matter-of-factly, pulling the curtain back and casing the rooftops and street outside, "Gotta get you outta here the good ol' fashioned way. Are you packed?"

"_Zack_, what're you doing here?" Max repeated in a louder tone, scrunching up her face in utter confusion, "Were you tailing me?"

He scoffed, "Someone's gotta keep an eye on you, baby sister – and since your boyfriend ain't around…"

"What and the thought of dropping in and saying 'hi' never freaking entered your mind?" Max demanded, then scowled as Zack unzipped her duffel bag and shoved some loose paraphernalia inside it. "Hey!"

"Get your head in the game, Max!" Zack barked, and she stiffened and felt her spine straighten instinctively – old habits died hard. Her brother was stepping into 'C.O' mode now, and Max's reflexes were subconsciously responding.

"I've been watching out for you since the day I stopped being Adam and started being Zack again!" The X5 stated flatly as he tossed Max's bag onto the bed between them and raised his eyebrows, "I know you've got your own life going now and this Alec guy seems pretty solid, but I couldn't just stop checking on you, Maxie!" There was a pleading tone to his voice as he held her gaze, "I'll always be doin' that."

Max's eyebrows tilted up and her lips tightened. "I know." She said softly, looking down at the floor and then back up at her brother. The dusty leather jacket, the long blonde bangs, the dark trousers – the only thing that had changed in Zack over the years was the deepening of the crow's feet around his scathing green eyes.

Time had been kind – physically at least. But an oppressive air hung over Zack like a heavy blanket which seemed to have been wrapped around him for quite some time.

"How'd you know White's coming for me?" Max cast a glance at the doorway surreptitiously, and Zack scoffed as he picked up Max's duffel bag.

"You wanna turn this into Twenty Questions, little sister, or would you prefer to wait until after we get the hell outta the red zone?"

_Ugh_. Max pointedly rolled her eyes in frustration at Zack's commando verbosity, _I hope to God Alec and I don't sound like that when we lay it down for Brac and Nyx!_

Max felt her stomach tighten and she groaned once more. She had a sneaky feeling that they did.

"C'mon!" Zack growled insistently, poking his head out of the doorway and tapping his foot, "It's all clear but it's not staying that way very long…"

"I got it, Zack! Just chill!" Max snapped in a whisper, slinging her back over her shoulder and zipping up her coat, "Just follow my lead! We're not clambering down the fire escape when I can get us outta this hotel in one, unsoiled piece!"

"Max, there isn't time…"

"Shut up." She growled, shoving her bag into his hands as they rounded the corner and entered the lobby. Max whipped out her cell phone and hit the speed dial, silencing Zack's protest with a stiffly-raised finger.

"Hello? Taxi – Co?"

Zack pursed his lips and scowled in annoyance, bristling as he was nodded at by a scruffy-looking porter.

"Yeah, do you do inter-state transportation?...Great, can I get a cab from Warley's Hotel to Sector 3 in Seattle?"

"Max, a _cab_?" Zack growled, "Are you insane? They're gonna have our asses for grass before…"

"Great!" Max stated into the receiver glibly, subtly jabbing her elbow into Zack's ribcage and eliciting a wince from the X5 as they stood in the center of the lobby. "We'll be waiting outside…yes, Blanks, Mildred Blanks. Just ask for me at the counter."

"Max!"

"Bye now!" Max hung up and pocketed her phone, nudging Zack as she did so, "Come on, walk slowly and follow my lead."

"Why are those words so goddamn familiar?"

"Cuz normally they're comin' from _your_ mouth!" Max smiled breezily as she casually headed to the lift, a seething Zack on her heels. They quickly stepped inside and Max hit the parking lot button, rocking back and forth on her heels as the numbers began to flash with lights.

"Diversion, Maxie? It's the oldest trick in the book; they're gonna be on our tails before…"

"I'm _not_ gonna leave my baby in this hotel's trashy lot – what the hell kinda biker babe do you take me for?" Max quipped sarcastically with a raise of her eyebrows as the elevator chimed and the X5s ducked into the dingy basement lot of the hotel.

"Do you need a ride or have you got your own getaway vehicle?" Max queried, squinting at the security camera as she ran a hand over the leather upholstery of her Ninja and shoved her bag into the seat compartment.

Zack snorted as he stalked over to the helm of a sleek motorbike and swung himself astride it, "As if, little sister."

Max nodded with a shrug before revving her bike into action, "Ready for some kick-ass road rage?"

Her brother rolled his eyes as his bike slid past hers, "Just try to keep up."


	5. Chapter 5

"_Yes_ I'm sure…well you mind telling me exactly how else you plan on keeping the DA out of this one?"

Logan sighed and rolled his eyes, adjusting the headset cupping his skull and absently clicking at his mouse, "Look, all I'm saying is at least give ITU a chance at tackling this one on their own!...It's not a national affair, they're classing it as a domestic dispute!"

Logan cringed at the thundering down the other end of the line, but the man had seen too much in his lifetime to be remotely fazed, "No, I can tell you for a fact that there's no way on God's green earth you'd get the McDowell's to agree to that…well I'm not _going_ to give it a shot, so your answer is 'no' right there!"

Asha rubbed a hand on Logan's shoulder and planted a quiet, unobtrusive kiss on his spiky hair. He reached up and squeezed her hand as he continued.

"Look, I'm only going to say this once – you bring a hostage negotiator into the picture, you're gonna be looking at his corpse alongside Brac McDowell's on the six o'clock news tonight, you getting me here?...Yeah well the McDowell's do, and let me tell you something, they're not afraid to throw their weight around if it means protecting their family." With that, Logan disconnected the call and blew out a heavy breath.

"F.B.I?" Asha queried, and her husband nodded wearily.

"They're trying to persuade me to talk Max and Alec into letting them send in one of their hostage negotiators. At this point, there's not even a lead on Brac's location and the feds are already trying to stick their noses in. It pisses me off." Logan rubbed his face and then stood up, removing his headset, "Hey have you managed to get in touch with…"

The sound of Asha's phone chiming off made the woman reach quickly into her pocket and fish out the device. "Hello?"

"Hey Ash."

"Alec?" Asha gasped in exasperation, "Thank God! Listen, Max's been calling me all frantic cuz she couldn't get through to your phone. Is everything alright?"

Asha heard a quiet, dry chuckle from the X5 – something which never heralded anything but doom. "Yeah, it's all good. Listen, I need your help with somethin', alright?"

"Sure, what is it?" Asha held up a finger as Logan opened his mouth.

"Mind passin' me to Logan?"

Asha could visualize the smirk on Alec's face and felt her own lips twist into a tight pout of aggravation, "I dunno. Mind telling me what's going on here first?"

"Ah c'mon, Asha, don't think I don't remember you and Maxie and your secret-swappin' here."

"If you ask me not to tell her, I promise that I won't."

Asha heard Alec sigh softly for a minute before he spoke again, "Lemme talk to Logan first."

Asha snorted in disbelief and then handed the cell phone over to her husband before crossing her arms and stalking to the window.

"Alec?" Logan raised his eyebrows at his wife's injured expression, "What's happening? Where are you?""

"Never mind that. Look, I need you to book me into a jail visitor listing."

"Which jail?" Logan sat down at his computer and began clacking away.

"Seattle P.D's special holding facility – I forget what it's called." Alec sounded casual, nonchalant.

"Their mainframe?" Logan scrunched up his nose, "Alec, that's VIP…"

"Yeah which is the only reason I couldn't get myself in there without knocking some heads together." Alec sniffed and Logan didn't need another teller to be aware that X5 had something nasty up his sleeve.

Alec seemed to catch on and sighed over the phone at his friend's silence, "Logan, c'mon, do this for me, please?"

The mighty Alec McDowell, saying 'please'?

Logan pinched the bridge of his nose. Something was definitely amiss.

"You're going after Tarrant, aren't you?"

"Ain't 'goin' after him', Logie-boy. Just wanna pay him a lil' visit and drop off some cookies and a thermos."

"Alec, this isn't a joke!" Logan snapped, and he heard Alec go deadly silent, "Look, I understand why you want to do this, but…"

"Yeah well if you understand, then why're you tryin' to stop me?"

The question was asked in a low, matter-of-fact tone of voice, almost a whisper. Alec had let the impervious wall of his defenses down for just a brief moment to allow Logan to feel a glimmer of the helplessness, anger and worry that had evidently been the X5's constant companion since his teenage son had been abducted.

"I need this, Logan." Alec's words were tense and gravelly, "Please."

Logan caved. He pursed his lips and then sighed, "Alright. I'm booking you an eight o-clock appointment with Tarrant. You're his cousin Ryan Jennings from Detroit, cleared for non-supervised visitation." He raised his eyebrows, "You've got one hour with him, Alec."

The X5 snorted softly, "Only need ten minutes."

"Be careful, Alec."

"I owe you one, buddy."

Logan swallowed a foreboding lump in his throat and tried to smirk, "No, you owe me _several_ – this is just another to add to the list."

"Yeah right," Alec laughed dryly and then went quiet for a moment, "Hey and Logan? Don't tell Max."

"You got it." Logan responded, and the line went dead. He blew out a breath and let his fingers work their magic, connecting the digital dots that would get Alec the pass he needed.

"Logan?" Asha appeared behind him, "Max is gonna find out – you know that, right?"

Logan squinted at the screen, "Yeah, I kinda figured that one, Ash. Thanks."

Asha shrugged, "Mmkay…just so you know?" She paused as she turned to leave, "She comes over to kick your ass – I'm not gonna talk her outta it."

Logan laughed out loud at that one, "Neither am I."


	6. Chapter 6

Alec stared absently at the phone in his hand for almost a full minute before pocketing it. Nostalgia had never fit snugly into the careless X5's repertoire of emotions (Rachel Berrisford's necklace had been the 'instrument of his deflowering' in that department). But on rare occasion, certain objects or words would trigger a 'reminiscence space-out' (as Alec labeled Max's frequent flashbacks)…

Like the one he'd just experienced: the slim, black and red cell phone strewn with tiny white graffiti in Brac's outstretched hand. The broad grin on his son's face. The smug remark of _"Bought two for one on EBay – now you can have an 'emo' phone as well since you're always dissin' mine, Dad!"_

Alec shrugged the image of a triumphant, thirteen year-old Brac out of his mind. _Not right now, bud. I can't. I can't roll in your scent…it hurts too much, okay?_

_"You'd better appreciate it," Brac's voice continued mercilessly, "Cuz I blew three months spending money on the darn thing."_

Alec swallowed as he climbed the stairs of a drab, imposing-looking building, smiling tersely at a security guard as he entered the reception lounge.

_"Oh gimme a break," His own voice, sounding five months younger and ten years less burdened, took up the torch of the memory, "'Said two for one – you got mine free, kiddo."_

_"No," Brac had gone quieter with his next words, almost as though he were afraid people would hear and re-assess the hardened image he'd worked overtime to build, "I got __mine__ free."_

"Oh god, shut up…" Alec muttered desperately, glaring at the floor as he stopped outside of the reception desk.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Nothin', uh – hi there." Alec flashed the stern older woman seated behind the bullet-proof glass his trademark 'cute little boy' smile.

She raised her eyebrows, clearly unimpressed. "May I help you?"

"Yeah I'm here to make a visit with a relative o' mine – Tarrant?" Alec sniffed and then squinted at his reflection in the glass. God, how had thirty-four years of life as a freak been so very, very kind…

"Tarrant?" The officer's eyebrows fell sharply, "He's maximum security, only special-exemption visitors are allowed access."

"Yeah I know, that's why his mother couldn't make it." Alec responded casually as he raised his eyebrows at his reflection and attempted to make the scruffy, growing-out haircut from the Southview mission presentable. Why was it so freaking stubborn…

"Are you here on a whim or do you have an appointment?" The woman, evidently needled by Alec's nonchalant manner, tapped a manicured nail against the right-click button on her computer mouse.

"Yeah uh Ryan Jennings. Got an eight o'clock appointment. Clearance is all on file." Alec rubbed his face and then finally refocused his gaze on the female officer, smiling politely at her as she checked the records on her screen.

The flickering glower on the officer's face confirmed that Logan had done his job well. She glanced quickly at Alec and then at her computer, evidently ensuring that he fit the profile displayed before letting out a growl of frustration.

"You're cleared for access, Mr Jennings. Here's your visitor pass." She stamped various blobs of red and black ink onto a slip of paper before scrawling some token words on it and clipping it into a name tag plastic.

Alec smirked in triumph (very, very subtle triumph) as he reached under the hole in the glass and accepted the pass. He retracted it and paused to admire the mugshot Logan had uploaded for his profile.

"Hey, check that out. Lemme tell you somethin', you got damn good color printing in this outfit …"

"I'll have someone escort you shortly and take you through security procedures before your visit!" The woman fairly yelled out the statement, face flushing with irritation, "In the meantime, please have a seat in the waiting area to your right." She stabbed a finger in the said direction before returning to her work, clacking furiously at the keyboard in front of her.

Alec resisted the urge to laugh, "Phew, lady, you're gonna fog up that glass with all that steam! You know, are you due for a break any time soon? Cuz I was thinkin', there's this kick-ass grill house across the street and I was kinda hopin' we could…"

"I strongly suggest" The officer had pushed away from her desk and stood up before Alec had even finished his final sentence, "that you park it in the waiting area, Mr. Jennings, before I call Security and ask them to throw a strip search into your procedure!"

Alec's smirk widened and he held up his hands in defense as he backed away, "You'd be doing'em a favor…"

"I'm reaching for my phone!" She threatened.

"Relax, relax! I'm gone." Alec finally let out a snigger as he headed to the designated waiting lounge and leant against a chair absently. _Objective: paint Ryan Jennings as a narcissistic airhead uninterested in anything besides his latest hairspray. Mission status:_, He looked at his fingernails and smiled, _accomplished._

The gloomy clock hanging on the wall above the lounge was just ticking off ten to eight when Alec was approached by a non-descript security guard in a drab blue and black uniform.

"Mr. Jennings?" The man called out, and Alec raised his eyebrows as he pushed off from the seat. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm Ted Hawkins, here to walk you through security. Ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's get goin'. I know how long these things can take." Alec glanced in concern at the clock as he followed Hawkins through a heavy set of doors and down a narrow corridor.

"Well you're in luck." Hawkins said, "Tarrant's still in the middle of a visit with his niece. It was a last-minute booking so your slot's been moved to 8:15."

"Well would you get a load of that? What are the odds, huh?" Alec felt a brief flash of alarm as Hawkins punched in a code on a second set of doors and they swung open in compliance.

_Hope lil' Niecie-niece doesn't catch an eyeshot o' me in all the comings-and-goings or the whole damn cover's blown. _

Hawkins was an amiable young man who had obviously managed to keep his head above the waters of dreary sobriety which often drowned others in his line of work. He chatted casually with Alec throughout the entire security procedure (the majority of which, Alec noted with some surprise, he was waived through – courtesy of Logan Cale).

"You're all good to go." Hawkins announced as Alec replaced his watch, belt and keys after passing through his fifth detector frame. "It's just gone 8:10 now so I'll just take you down to the visitation hall and we can wait for your cousin and niece to finish up..."

No sooner had the words left Hawkins' mouth when a portly officer, red-faced and huffing from evidently having run a considerable distance, rounded the corner.

"Hawkins!" He barked, "This guy here to see Tarrant?"

"Sure is, Bob!" Hawkins frowned in alarm at his co-worker's countenance and then waved a reassuring hand at Alec.

"Gonna have to have him back another time, buddy." 'Bob' shook his head and swallowed while attempting to regain control of his breathing, "Tarrant's just been wheeled to the med wing with a concussion and some kinda drug in his bloodstream!"

Alec's face grew cold and he narrowed his eyebrows in disbelief, "What? Just now?"

Bob nodded, "I'm sorry, sir, but you're gonna have to come back tomorrow. Hawkins, we're clearing out the visitor area. They're gonna sound the alarm any second – that kid might still be in the building!"

"You mean his niece pulled one over on him?" Hawkins raised his eyebrows in shock as the two security guards apologetically herded Alec into an elevator and shut the doors behind them. "Sheesh, what is this world coming to, huh?"

Alec was still trying to get his head around the sudden jar of Tarrant's incapacitation. He just hoped that the former sheriff would pull out of whatever had worked him over long enough to spill the details on Brac. Alec suspected that his boy's kidnapper's – to whatever degree they and Tarrant were in league – had pulled a fast one on the man in order to ensure his silence under interrogation.

_If those idiots killed him off, I swear to God_…

"I'm real sorry about this, Mr. Jennings, but you're gonna have to evac the building like everybody else." Hawkins stepped out of the elevator as it ground to a halt and cracked open to reveal the main foyer. A pulsing grate was sounding through the lobby, echoing off the walls and nearly drowning out the sound of an overly-calm voice belting out instructions to exit the building 'in an orderly fashion'.

Hawkins patted Alec on the arm briefly before joining his comrades in an effort to control the crowds of civilians jostling one another to the exit. The security guard paused and turned as if in afterthought, "Hey, you need someone to get you a cab or some…"

Alec had melted into the crowd the moment Hawkins' back was turned and was, of course, long gone from the lobby in the thirty second span it took for the man to glance behind him.

Alec quickly pulled off his visitors badge and replaced it with the security ID he'd swiped off Hawkins' shirt, straightening his collar as he headed into the belly of the building, ignoring the surging crowds and frantic officers. His eyes were peeled for anything – more specifically, anyone – that wasn't a frenzied picture of panic.

Alec's head snapped up as his sharp eyes caught a flurry of a movement blur across a deserted hallway and into the women's toilets. He narrowed his eyebrows and moved quickly, glancing over his shoulder before pushing the still-swinging door ajar and stalking silently into the public bathrooms.

_God and chicks say we guys are disgusting_, Alec turned a shade of green as the smell of anti-bacterial spray mixed with urine met his nostrils and a vending machine proudly dispensing 'KOTEX – FOR THAT ALL-DAY FRESH FEEL' greeted him.

Alec rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the task at hand. "Hello?" He pursed his lips and tapped a knuckle against one of the 'occupied' stalls, "Anybody in here?"

Alec's lips twisted slightly as he heard the very faint sound of something soft sliding against the plastic wall of a stall four doors down. "Building's bein' evacuated." His eyes darted from side to side as he cautiously made his way to the offending stall, fists curling up. "I'm gonna need you to come on out."

With the final word, Alec pivoted back on his left heel and delivered a menacing kick to the door, causing the weak lock to buckle as it swung open easily. He didn't have to attack as the small figure which had braced itself between the walls lunged, throwing them both to the cold tile floor.

Alec's cheekbone took a slug (which was surprisingly strong from his obviously young opponent) before the X5 flipped his attacker onto her back, gripping the skinny wrists in his hands as he pinned the violently squirming figure under his legs.

Suddenly the young girl went limp and ceased her struggling, "_Dad_?"

Alec did a double take on the girl pinned underneath his frame, "Nyxie?!"


	7. Chapter 7

Alec did a double take on the girl pinned underneath his frame, "Nyxie

Alec did a double take on the girl pinned underneath his frame, "Nyxie?!" He was too floored to say anything further as his daughter's dark chestnut locks swept away from her face and she began to whine under Alec's weight.

"Lemme up! You're squishing me!"

Alec moved off Nyx's midsection as the girl scrambled to her feet.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Nyx straightened her clothes and rubbed her wrists while eyeing Alec with wide, unbelieving eyes.

"Are you serious?!" Alec crinkled up his eyebrows incredulously. "The hell am _I_ doin' here?"

"You were gonna go after Tarrant, weren't you?" Nyx hissed, stabbing a finger at the X5 standing two feet away from her.

"Nyxie…"

"Well don't worry, Dad – I saved you the trip!" Nyx flicked the dark bangs she had evidently cut in an effort to disguise her face and then glanced up, tight-lipped, at an announcement crackling over the loudspeaker in the bathrooms. "Shit…"

"Wait, that was _you_?" Alec's voice was alternating between disbelief and red-hot anger, and he reached out and gripped his daughter's arm tightly, "Nyx, what are you thinkin'?! Are you outta your freaking mind – you coulda been…"

"Oh don't gimme that, Dad! You were out here for the same damn reason, okay?" Nyx seethed under Alec's deadly glare and her left leg's rigid stance suggested it was about to stomp on the tiled floor any minute.

"Doesn't matter _what_ I'm here to do!" Alec snapped, taking hold of Nyx's shoulders and focusing the full heat of his eyes into her heart-shaped face, "Do you have _any_ idea how dangerous it was takin' off on your own like that?"

"I got a lead on Brac, Dad! Don't tell me it wasn't worth the risk!" Nyx hissed in a whisper and then glanced up sharply, along with Alec, at the sound of heavy footsteps and muffled orders barked out in the hallways outside the bathrooms.

"Shit," Nyx muttered, looking more pissed off then afraid. She pressed her full lips tightly together in annoyance as Alec moved her behind him (a protective instinct which both Nyx and Brac had long decided was the result of deep-rooted, totally subconscious brainwaves as opposed to an actual deliberate action).

Alec kept his narrowed eyes glued to the door but lifted the hand he was clutching to Nyx's jacket long enough to pat his little girl's shoulder in quick reassurance. He pursed his lips at the sound of a search team being instructed to check the perimeter and then twisted to Nyx, holding a finger to his lips.

She nodded briefly before waving two fingers at the roof above their heads. Alec glanced up at the air vent and nodded. Moments later the two trangenics were safely nestled in the dark, chilly hollow of the air vent and Alec was replacing the screen.

He looked over at Nyx, who was on her knees beside him, and motioned for her to go in front of him. Nyx nodded and crawled silently down the vent, long hair blowing slightly in the fluttering air conditioning pumping through the pipe.

Nyx heard a sharp clanging on the metal underneath her and froze in compliance with the hand Alec clamped down on her ankle. Her eyes were wide and darting from side to side as the sound of scraping and scuffling followed by a faint static crackle echoed down the vent.

Nyx glanced over her shoulder and flashed Alec a questioning look, trying her best to disguise her fear. Alec just shook his head and held a finger to his lips, then pointed beneath them and crossed his fingertips briefly across his throat.

Nyx swallowed heavily and threw her dad a look of skepticism at the 'there's nothing to worry about' message. She held up her index finger, signaling Alec to wait, and then reached carefully into the pocket of her navy blue capris.

Alec raised an eyebrow at the small black control his daughter pulled out and then his eyes widened in alarm as Nyx motioned for him to brace himself. He reached out to grab the device but Nyx had already thumbed the button.

It was all Alec could do to wrap his arm around Nyx and hold her tightly to his chest as they were thrown against the wall of the vent. An explosion sounded a fair ways off from their entry vent, but the shockwave was still strong enough to send both Nyx and Alec (who quickly positioned himself to take the full impact of the slam against the metal) crashing off-balance.

"Come on, Dad!" Nyx whispered, hastily untangling herself from Alec and crawling at double-speed down the vent.

"What the hell was that?" Alec hissed as he followed suit and ignored the smoke that was now clouding the ventilation shaft.

"I'll explain later! Just try to keep up!" Nyx called back as she scurried further down the vent.

"Any other surprises I should watch out for?" Alec grumbled, catching up to his daughter as Nyx paused outside a small hatch and lifted it off the hinges easily.

"You don't think I came in here without an escape plan, do ya?" Nyx snorted, squeezing her small frame into the tube only to have her wrist gripped by Alec. "Dad, quit stalling! There's no time to…"

"Okay, for one, how exactly do you plan on me fittin' in there?" Alec demanded, glancing with a frown in the direction of the smoke that was still seeping through the vent.

"I didn't exactly _plan_ on fittin' you into _any_ of my escape, Dad!" Nyx protested with a raise of her eyebrows, "If you can't make it down this one, crawl ten yards down and there's a bigger one to your right that'll take a little longer to…"

"Forget it; we're _not_ splitting up…" Alec began adamantly.

"Just listen!" Nyx pleaded.

"It's not gonna happen, Nyx, alright?" Alec barked, and she graced him with a mordant, Max Guevara scowl.

"These ducts lead to an outlet, Dad –from there we can make the jump two floors down, hit the ground running and…"

"Yeah and what about the fencing, Nyxie? It's charged, in case you hadn't noticed…" Alec's gruff rebuttal was met with a roll of Nyx's eyes as she continued.

"and squeeze through the hole I hacked in the fencing, which by the way killed the voltage on that entire section of fencing just behind the building! Okay?"

Alec eyed his daughter sternly for a moment before he squinted over his shoulder at the faint, ever-present grate of the alarm. "Alright, let's do this. Get outta there, though. We're doin' this together."

"It'll be faster if we…"

"Nyx!" Alec's voice rang with warning, and the young girl decided against pressing the issue further. With a sigh, she allowed herself to be pulled out of the small duct and quickly replaced the vent.

"Okay, come on. This way." Nyx's eyes met with Alec's and she flinched at the complete frustration and bristling anxiety emanating from the green orbs. "Dad, look…I…"

"Save it, Nyxie." Alec responded bluntly, eyeing her coldly for a moment before shaking his head and motioning for Nyx to take the lead. "Let's just get on outta here first."

Nyx swallowed and nodded, feeling tears sting her eyes as her childish obstinacy began to fade and she realized the full gravity of what her desperate trek was putting her parents through. As the heavy realization hit her that there was a good chance she and Alec wouldn't make it out of their predicament alive or at least, unscathed, Nyx crawled quietly down the vent on all fours, the faint sound of Alec's breathing reassuring her of her one thing – that her dad would never hesitate to put himself between his daughter and a thousand sawed-off shotguns.

Nyx wiped at a stray tear and bit her lip to fight off more. That thought wasn't reassuring in the slightest.


	8. Chapter 8

"Psst…hey…"

"Psst…hey…"

Brac's eyelids, sore and red from exhaustion, fluttered open. He squinted and pressed his eyes closed tightly several times in an attempt to adjust his vision to the dim light pouring in from the open door of his prison.

The figure silhouetted in the doorway was slim and tall, and a messy ponytail fell across its shoulders.

"What…" Brac began in a cracked, hoarse voice that came out as little better then a whisper, his eyebrows narrowed sharply in confusion as the woman moved quickly inside and shut the door quietly behind her.

"Shh…" The intruder moved to crouch beside Brac, and his night-vision kicked in.

"Ca…Casey Trendon…" Brac forced out, swallowing heavily at the thick lump of dryness clinging to his esophagus. The girl blanched in surprise.

"How do you know my name?" She whispered.

"Southview…" Brac sniffed and then glanced around in alarm, "You should go. The others…"

"Got it covered. They're glued to the tube – some major headline just kicked in about Sherriff Tarrant getting attacked in jail." Casey shook her head as she worked to unbuckle the straps fastening Brac to the bed.

"Tarrant's in jail?" Brac queried, wincing sharply at Casey touched his bandaged wrists. "Ah…careful!"

"Sorry…oh my god." She felt the wet gauze strip and Brac watched as her face furrowed in concern.

"S'okay." He muttered in what he hoped was a reassuring manner – not that he cared whether the girl had a hernia over his condition or not. He just didn't want her retching all over them both and blowing any chance they had.

"We've gotta get you out of here." Casey seemed deeply affected but was doing a pretty good job of keeping a lid on it. "C'mon, I found a trapdoor in the cellar. I think it leads to some sort of tunnel." Having finished untying Brac, Casey's fingers closed around the intravenous needle in his arm.

"I'm gonna take your tube out now, okay?"

Brac nodded. A few weeks ago, he would have rolled his eyes or made a remark about condescension – or possibly both. But not today.

"On three," Casey whispered, "One, two, three." She quickly eased the needle out of Brac's vein and dapped at the spot with her cardigan sleeve.

"There we go. C'mon, I'll help you up." Casey slung Brac's arm over her shoulder, trying as much as possible to avoid aggravating the bandages on his wrists.

Brac dizzily attempted to stand but the room span around his head and his body simply refused to respond. It had been too long since Brac had done anything but lay on his mattress (excluding the times one of his captors would burst in and insist he use the restroom under armed escort…even then, recently they'd had to carry him).

"Shit, wait, wait, wait..." Brac whispered, teeth grit in pain as Casey buckled under his weight and stumbled to her knees. "Listen," He swallowed and maintained eye contact with the wide-eyed young girl beside him, "I'm not gonna be able to go anywhere anytime soon."

"You just need some time." Casey insisted, casting a dubious glance in the direction of the door, "C'mon, I'll get us to the trapdoor. You can get back some strength in there while your body…."

"Not gonna happen." Brac shook his head and pursed his lips to fight back the tears threatening to spill. Freedom was so close, but his weakened state had him unable to pursue it. "Listen, _you_ go…

"No way…" Casey began.

"I'm not asking!" Brac snapped, his voice taking on the no-nonsense tone that both his parents shared in their unique yet akin moments of sternness. "Look, you got X5 blood in you, you're fast and you got a head on your shoulders! If you go _now_, you might actually make it outta here."

"I can't just leave you with these psychopaths!" Casey hissed, and Brac grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her slightly. The effort caused his heart to pound ferociously against his chest and lights danced in front of his eyes.

"If you get out, you gotta find my parents. If you go to Terminal City, you'll meet up with them, or if they're not there, ask for Jace."

"But I can't…"

"Did you just bust outta lock-down and somehow manage to get that son-of-a-bitch door open?" Brac nodded at the entrance to his room, and Casey nodded hesitantly.

"Actually, they moved me to a different room so I was by myself, or else I would've gotten out the others…"

"Then don't be tellin' me you _can't_." Brac growled, his green eyes dull and hazy from sunken cheekbones. Casey pulled in her lips and sighed before nodding.

"Okay. I won't let you down though – I promise."

"Just tell my parents where we are." Brac licked his dry, swollen lips and eased himself back onto his bed, hating every second of pain and effort it cost him to return to the very place he hated more then anywhere else in the world just then.

"You're Brac McDowell, right?" Casey helped Brac resume a comfortable position and then grimaced as he motioned for her to refasten his restraints.

"S'right. My parents are Alec McDowell and Max Guevara…"

"Yeah I know who they are." Casey whispered, casting furtive glances over her shoulder as she worked, "Freakin' world knows who they are."

"Kay then…" Brac couldn't help feeling envious of the courageous Ordinary squatting beside him. _In twenty-four hours, she's gonna be with Mom and Dad. __My__ mom and dad…_

"Get a move on. In exactly three minutes, I'm gonna buy you some time." Brac squinted as Casey quietly opened the door, letting in a stream of light.

"I only need two." She responded, and then inched out of the room, "Keep an eye on the horizon. You're all getting outta here soon!"

"Just piss off already, for Christ's sake!" Brac hissed, and Casey shut the door.

_Oh god, Casey, please make it outta this shit-hole, pleas_e! Brac's eyes shut and tears rolled from underneath their lids. The mental vision of his rescue was the only thing that kept the frightened, exhausted boy going in the cold, dark prison in which he was ensnared. Brac would play it out in his mind over and over, sometimes adding or subtracting different snippets based on his memories of Max and Alec.

Slipping numbly into his imagination for a moment, Brac subconsciously felt the soft caress of Max's hand, covered in cold leather as it would undoubtedly be, running across his forehead and her lips – most likely moist with a small amount of blood from taking one on the chin (as was her way) – planting a comforting, overwhelming kiss on his head. Through the darkness of his eyelids, Brac imagined Alec's strong hands lifting him up, holding Brac securely to his chest, the rumble of his father's voice issuing out quiet, matter-of-fact assurances…

A thump from upstairs shattered Brac's reverie. _Right, Casey, your three minutes are up._ He began to cough – loud-deep throated gags that would undoubtedly reach the ears of any transgenic in the vicinity. After a good round of choked warbles, Brac yelled out a strangled cry of "Help me!" before continuing with his coughing session.

Sure enough, the smatter of boots trampling the staircase preceded the door being unlocked and flung open. A tall, emotionless X5 male and (to Brac's great displeasure) Bren tromped into the room and took in the sight of Brac having a violent coughing fit.

"What's wrong with him? Get him up, quick!" Bren motioned to her comrade, and the man swiftly moved to kneel beside Brac and place a hand under the boy's head, propping him up slightly.

Brac continued to let out hacking coughs, his already-dry throat screaming in protest from being rubbed raw. Brac ignored it and continued, alternating between gags and deep, shuddering gasps.

"Get some water, fast!" The X5 male yelled out, and Bren disappeared briefly before returning with a small bottle of Evian.

"C'mon, kid, drink up! It'll ease the coughing!" The man insisted in a stern voice as he unscrewed the cap and tilted Brac's head up.

Brac drank greedily from the water, every now and then letting out a sputtering cough which sprayed his captor with droplets of water. The X5 growled but continued to hold the bottle to Brac's lips as the boy gradually downplayed his hacking fit.

_Mom always said those three drama lessons I went to before droppin' out would pay off somehow._

Alec's eyes scanned thoroughly, sweeping the perimeter clean of any obstacles to his and Nyx's safe exit from the jailhouse. Pursing his lips in satisfaction at the clear path before them, he signaled over his shoulder for Nyx to approach.

She was beside him in an instant, quiet as a mouse and following Alec's lead as the two blurred from the bush they had been lurking by to the large thicket shrouding the electric fencing encircling the deserted backside of the building.

"Here," Nyx whispered, pushing through some shrubbery and shoving at a section of the wire fencing. It rolled back compliantly in her grip and Nyx turned to Alec with a questioning raise of her eyebrows.

He nodded briefly, giving the empty, overgrown soccer field outside the jail a once-over before moving Nyx through the hole. After a last glance over his shoulder, Alec ducked through and closed the slit as best he could to camouflage its existence.

Then they ran – hard and fast, moving like lightening. Nyx was in the lead while Alec took up the rear. After ten minutes solid, Nyx veered off behind a large oak tree and Alec joined her.

"Holdin' up okay?" Alec queried, noting his daughter's heavy breathing and flushed face even the dark cover of night.

She nodded, "M'fine. There's an old blue pick-up truck parked just behind those bushes." Nyx tucked her hair behind her ear and pointed to some nearby foliage. "It was gonna be my getaway vehicle." She raised her eyebrows at Alec, "Did you bring your Ninja here?"

"No, I took the train." Alec responded, and Nyx nodded.

"So nobody could trace you." She gave a small smile, the kind that only children wear – the kind that boasted 'my daddy is the smartest, most strongest man in the whole, wide world'.

"Somethin' like that." Alec laid a hand on his daughter's shoulder as he zoomed his vision in on the patch of shrubbery Nyx had indicated to. He could make out a dark, lumpy shape behind the swaying leaves.

"'Kay, this is how we're gonna do this," He turned to Nyx, bending down slightly to hold her eyes with his own, "We'll make a run for it but take a ten second pause behind that tree over there. You see it?" Alec pointed to a solid-looking oak located right about at the halfway mark between their present position and their goal.

"Yeah." Nyx nodded, face set in determination, "Ten seconds, you said?"

"I'll give the count." Alec clarified, with a faint smirk of pride for the level-headed sense his eleven year-old child was displaying. Then the original reason for their current predicament (and the reason why said eleven year-old child was even sneaking away from a maximum security jail in the first place) cropped up in 494's brainwave.

"Dad, what is it?" Nyx was querying in a low tone of voice, eyeing Alec cautiously as his face darkened and became stony and matter-of-fact.

"I'll give the count, Nyxie." Alec replied coolly, patting her on the shoulder, "C'mon, lets go. One, two, three!"

The transgenics took off across open space, their bodies a blur of motion as they crossed the distance between the two trees in perfect sync. Alec's hand snagged Nyx's arm as they screeched to a halt behind the oak.

"C'mon on, kid. Lil' ways to go yet." Alec brushed back a tangled section of Nyx's hair from her face and pinched her cheek lightly. "Ready for the longest yard?"

"I _hate_ that film." Nyx replied sourly before bracing herself once more, "You give the count, Dad."

"'Kay…three, two, one. Let's go!" Alec and Nyx cleared the final space with little difficulty, and soon found themselves shoving strategically-placed branches and leaves off the hood of the pick-up truck.

"Just outta curiosity, where'd you rip this off from?"

Nyx looked up at the underlying edge to the casual question and shrugged as she whipped out a set of car keys and handed them to Alec. "Scored it in a storage yard just outside o' Sector 3. You know, one of those places where they keep towed cars until the owner comes to pay for it."

"So that mean we gotta make a return delivery?" Alec didn't seem at all thrilled about the prospect as they climbed into the truck and shut the doors behind them.

"Not if we don't feel like it." Nyx responded matter-of-factly, clicking her seatbelt into place and then pulling her thick, dark hair back into a ponytail. "We could always just leave it a few miles off from the yard and then make an anonymous call. That's what _I_ was gonna do."

Nyx felt the engine kick, sputtering in protest, into gear and then frowned as she felt Alec's gaze on her. "What?" She queried.

He shook his head, "You know, I always said that Max and I would raise a batch o' block-headed genius'…you know, with the block-headedness comin' from her side," He looked behind him and then inched the truck out of its leafy haven, "and the genius part stemmin' from me."

"Typical Dad," Nyx snorted as they drove across some bumpy turf before pulling onto the road.

"Yeah well at the end of the day, all I could do was say 'I told you so'." Alec responded bluntly as he pumped up the speed and coursed down the deserted road.

"So, Tarrant?"

Nyx sighed, "We gotta go to Wisconsin. They got Brac holed up in Milwaukee."

"Where?" Alec's hands were gripping the wheel hard enough to turn his knuckles white.

"Some ancient, trashed-out building near Lake Michigan." Nyx huffed in frustration, "Can't be too many of those in Wisconsin, so I figure if we catch the first plane out and…"

"Who's 'we', Nyxie?" Alec demanded, and Nyx tensed up at the cold egde to his voice, "'Case you hadn't figured it out by now, you're goin' _straight_ back to Terminal City where I will _personally_ see to it that Mole and Jace lock you up in a vault with no Cable and throw away the freaking key!"

"That is so ridiculously stupid and unfair!" Nyx yelled in protest, "I'm the one who found out where Brac is! You can't just…"

"Do _not_ start tellin' me what I can or can't do, Nyx McDowell!" Alec thundered, and Nyx seethed but didn't dare interrupt as he continued to scold her. "Apparently you have _no_ idea how close you came to gettin' busted back there! I mean, hell, if I hadn't come across you in the bathrooms, you would very likely be getting your face smashed in with a catalogue by an interrogation officer!"

"It was _my_ escape plan that got us out of there." Nyx mumbled angrily, glaring at Alec from the corner of her blazing chocolate eyes.

He scoffed incredulously, "Oh now _there_ speaks the voice of reason! 'Dad, I know I went freaking AWOL, potentially tortured a max-security prisoner and nearly got us both killed, but hey, at least I had an out-route, right? So it's all just freaking cool?'."

"You're bein' _such_ a hypocrite!" Nyx shot back acidly as Alec took the turn-off for the highway, "I mean, you were there too, Dad, and let's face it, I was ten times easier on Tarrant then you would've been if you'd gotten your hands on the man!"

"You might wanna start countin' your lucky _stars_ I was there to kick it outta Tarrant." Alec retorted lethally as his eyes left the road for a brief moment to cast Nyx a heavy-lidded scowl, "It's the _only_ reason you're not gettin' the hiding of a lifetime _right_ here and now!"

"Oh c'mon! I just freaking got a lead on Brac…"

"Yeah and dove right into a maximum security jail teemin' with agents, plus assaulted a…"

"You know, you already _went_ through the list, okay, Dad?" Nyx growled.

"Yeah well your brother's gotten his ass beat for less, alright, Nyxie, so I don't think you're in _any_ kinda position to go pushin' a 'righteous' trip!" Alec barked in response.

Nyx went silent at that remark and she weighed the words with a sober expression on her face.

Alec shook his head and rubbed his jaw at a barely audible sniff from his daughter. He reached out and rested a hand on Nyx's knee, giving it brief, reassuring squeeze.

"Oh come on, it's not so bad, huh?" Despite all evidence to the contrary, Alec had always thought he scored an 'F' grade in the comfort department. He felt awkward around crying people, and angst-ridden individuals always managed to get on his nerves.

"_How_ is it 'not so bad'?" Nyx sobbed and pulled her hood over her head to cloak her grief. Alec rolled his eyes. The kid had made that a habit since she was a baby – pillows, blankets, sofa cushions, tablecloths (Alec or Max's sweaters…though Brac had put his foot down when Nyx tried it with his 'Korn' hoodie)…whatever she could find to pile over her face.

"Well, we know where Brac is for one thing." Alec reached into his pocket as his cell phone began to ring, "And number two," He glanced at the screen and narrowed his eyes, "least we know your mom's still alive and breathin' down our necks."

"That's Mom?" Nyx's watery eyes lit up with an oil-water mix of joy and trepidation as Alec held the phone to his ear.

"Tragically, yes – hello?" Alec suddenly grimaced at the voice barking loud enough down the receiver to reach even Nyx's ears.

"Alec, where the _hell_ are you?!"


	9. Chapter 9

_Thanks so much for all the reviews so far! Please keep them coming - you don't know how much a decent review helps clear out the writer's block. Thanks to Lostatc for her smashing advice, I've been able to bypass the chapter upload problem. So here's chapter nine - it's my favorite one so far... Read and review!_

_-- Tyler_

"Alec, where the _hell_ are you?!"

Max was standing under a lane of trees shrouding the glow of the street lights, one arm holding her cell phone to her ear and other gripping her bicep across her chest – an angry glare on her beautiful face. Zack stood a short ways off, leaning rigidly against his motorbike with his arms crossed – an equally mordant scowl gracing his transgenic features.

"Well I love you _too_, sweetheart!" Alec crooned down the line, and Max bristled.

"Oh shut up, Alec! Do you have _any_ idea what I've been through in the last five hours? I don't know what the _hell's_ goin' on in that fool-head of yours, but I swear to God I'm smacking it silly the _second_ I get my hands on you!" Max barked, and – much to her ire – she heard her mate whistle down the receiver.

"Woman, some serious overkill there!"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Max snapped, then, remembering Zack was in earshot (and cringing at the explosion that would undoubtedly erupt if her brother's overprotective nature locked horns with Alec's), she turned and flashed Zack a reassuring grin and an eye-roll for good measure.

Zack raised his eyebrows in response, "Hurry up."

Max smiled and nodded once more before turning her back on the X5, her dark frown returning.

"I'm gonna ask you one more time – where are you?"

"Didn't you tell me to shut up?"

"Alec!"

"I'm on the highway to T.C. Should hit it by midnight, I think."

"Are you okay?" Max held her breath and waited for a response. Her boy snorted.

"I'm fine. You?"

"Had to pull a lil' runner after the conference, but yeah, everything's swell on this end." Max stole a glance at Zack and lowered her voice a notch, "You were goin' after Tarrant, weren't you, Alec?"

"Yeah well someone beat me to it." He replied unabashedly, and Max groaned and held her forehead in frustration.

"You're not tellin' me he's dead, right? The guy's our only lead to Brac right now!"

"Damn git's alive though he ain't gonna be much longer, I'm guessing." Alec said grimly, and Max's ears picked up the sound of a faint hiss beside him, "Tarrant spilled some juice on the S.S and where they're holin' up. Whoever he's workin' for isn't gonna be happy about that one."

Max sighed heavily, "And now security's gonna skyrocket, taking down whatever chance we had of milking Tarrant for any information, which is fucking great!"

"Ah don't blow a gasket." Alec stated casually, "I got a lead on Brac's location. Apparently the S.S are now the _W_.S."

"What?" Max scrunched up her face in confusion.

"They're holin' up in Milwaukee, some derelict building skirtin' Lake Michigan." Alec sounded both angry and relieved, but there was something else hemming his tone that Max just couldn't pinpoint.

"Wisconsin?" She queried, "Well that's a surprise."

"Yeah speakin' of surprises," The elusive thread in Alec's voice was now a lucid ire, "Have a guess at the mystery mole who worked Tarrant over."

"You got me." Max raised her eyebrows and shrugged, then stiffened suddenly as she heard a ferocious whisper of "Dad!" echo a couple feet off from Alec.

"Alec, what is _Nyxie_ doing with you?" Max demanded, feeling a wave of indignation crash down against the shores of whatever calm she still had in her.

"Freaking beats me, Maxie – you got any ideas?" Alec snapped, and Max narrowed her eyes at the outburst. Surely Alec wasn't blaming _her_ for this…

"Is she okay? Let me talk to her!" Max responded, her motherly instincts suddenly coming to the fore as potential scenarios of disaster danced around her head.

"Oh she's fine, considering she jumped ship in T.C and infiltrated a maximum security lock-down to play duck-duck-goose with Tarrant!"

"Dad, give me the phone _right now_!" Nyx's voice could now be clearly heard, but Alec seemed to be ignoring his daughter for the moment as he continued.

"They set off the evac alarm right as I was goin' in to see Tarrant. I got her outta there before the whole damn thing got blown, although wait – actually it _did_ get blown cuz our darling little _angel_ rigged up some explosives!" He sounded angrier then Max had heard him in a good long while.

"She blew up the jail?!" Max was floored.

"Nah just one or two o' the hallways." Alec responded sardonically, "Anyway look, we're on the way back to Terminal City. Figure if we drop Nyx off with Tank and the guys at Central, you and I can meet up there and head for Wisconsin ASAP."

"Sounds like a plan." Max muttered, wishing with every inch of her being that the unique abilities granted her by Sandeman would expand to include teleportation. After a second of attempting to cool her nerves, Max abandoned the effort.

"I just don't get what the hell is wrong with our kids, Alec! I mean, what part of 'outside isn't safe' is just so difficult for them to understand?!"

"Yeah well we don't exactly set them a freaking fine example, do we, Maxie?" Alec's matter-of-fact response quieted his rankled mate for a moment.

Only a moment.

"Yeah well once this is done, I'll kick _your_ ass for runnin' off and then you can kick _mine_ for whatever dumb-ass risks _I've _taken. But in the meantime, which of us is gonna deal with Nyx?"

Max waited for Alec to reply. She felt Zack's hand on her shoulder and blew out a breath.

"Time to hit the road, little sister." He stated quietly, and Max nodded but didn't make a move.

"Alec?" She queried.

"Who the hell just called you 'little sister'?" Alec sounded completely bewildered.

"Zack showed up in D.C…" Max knew she wouldn't even be able to finish her sentence.

"Zack?" Alec queried incredulously, "As in Cyborg-Dude? Thought he was a farmhand or somethin'!"

"Yeah well not anymore. He got a lead on White's guys tailin' my ass and helped me skip town." Max discreetly stepped a little ways off as Zack's head shot up and his lips twisted slightly at the conversation taking place.

"Well how do you know you can trust him, Max? I mean, last time the guy showed up, he almost put Logan six feet under!" Alec was clearly not pleased with the course of events – not that Max had expected any other reaction from him. Alec was chilled about most things life threw his way, but the X5's blood ran hot and strong when it came to his family.

Besides, Zack hadn't exactly worked on making a good impression.

"He was brainwashed by Manticore into thinkin' Logan was the enemy and tryin' to take me out!" Max protested, hoping to put tabs on the situation before it escalated any further.

"Yeah well it's a long shot, but I'm bettin' 'strangle X5-494' didn't have a role in their agenda!" Alec snapped in response.

"Well _someone_ had to do it." Max answered breezily, "I'm just sorry it wasn't me!"

"Max! Come on!" Zack was insisting now, glancing over his shoulder anxiously and tapping his foot.

"Just gimme a second." Max commanded in like tone, and Alec growled over the line.

"Tell him to creep over someone _else's_ girl…"

"Alec!"

"What?" He huffed unapologetically, "Guy's a sleezeball, Max! I didn't like the way he looked at you fourteen years ago and I'm _bettin'_ he's still doin' it…"

"Alec…"

"That freaky eye thing he used to do, when he looks like he's goin' into the la-la world o' Little Sister's bikini line…"

"You know, you are the _personification_ of the green-eyed monster, Alec!" Max snapped, and then without waiting for her boy to shoot back a retort, continued. "I gotta blaze. See you in T.C." Max sighed softy, "I love you."

"Yeah, you too, Maxie." Alec sounded a little less wired as he returned the reassuring statement. As with all things 'mushy', the moment didn't last long with 494. "And tell 'Big Brother' to keep his freaky cyborg eye on the road and off your ass."


	10. Chapter 10

Max hung up and smiled wistfully at the cell phone in her hand for a minute before looking up at Zack, who was standing, hands fisting into his hips and a wry sneer on his face.

"Checkin' in with the hubby?" He queried sardonically, and Max rolled her eyes.

Max resisted the urge to snort. _Oh please. Alec's more like the third child in my life_. Like hell she was going to let on to Zack with that scoop though. The last thing Max needed was the man quoting her on Alec's rougher edges in the heat of a flare-up.

Max grimaced at the very concept and straddled her bike, revving it into life, "Ready to hit the road?"

Zack scowled and shook his head as he followed suit.

"What?" She finally snapped.

"Ah Max," He didn't grace her with a look as he inched his bike behind her hers and gestured for her to go ahead, "Always so evasive!"

"I can't believe you told her!" Nyx fumed as Alec took the exit for the appropriate sector that would put them on the path to Terminal City.

"Uh huh," Alec responded in a distracted tone of voice as he frowned at a pint-sized Toyota who switched lanes without indicating. Predictably, his non-committal reply only served to further piss his daughter off.

"Dad, I'm serious! I mean you made it sound ten times _worse_ then the whole thing really was!" Nyx was glaring and had crossed her arms over her chest as she slouched in her seat.

Alec growled under his breath, and Nyx's eyes darted up, full of hope that she had managed to elicit a fiery response from the X5.

Alec rolled his eyes at the windscreen, "Oh come on! Freaking crazy woman drivers…" He raised his voice a pitch at the car in front of him, "Hey lady, it's still a crime to drive _under_ the damn speed limit, you know!"

Nyx scowled, "You're just going too fast! Plus you're driving a road-hog of a truck that looks like it was made in the Cold War!"

Alec was shaking his head at the Toyota as his daughter continued, determined to rile her father up in the manner that most irate individuals attempt with calm opponents in any sort of war.

"You're not cruisin' in your Lexus and getting all the oohs-and-ahhs – so boo freaking hoo, Dad!"

"You know what?" Alec squinted at his hair in the rearview mirror and then smiled at an overhead billboard, "I feel like knocking back some caffeine."

"Oh great! As if you aren't hyper enough!" Nyx slammed her head back against the seat in frustration as the truck rattled to a halt in the run-down coffee joint's deserted parking lot. Alec unclipped his seatbelt and hopped out, closing the door and adjusting his leather jacket as Nyx grudgingly stepped out of the truck.

"Hey, do up your coat. Nose is lookin' a little red there." Alec motioned to Nyx's jacket, and she rolled her eyes as she hiked up the zip.

"It's not cold at all."

"Says the girl wearin' capris in December." Alec gave the offending trousers a glance of disdain, "Hey, turn around. I wanna see something."

"Ugh, Da-ad!" Nyx fumed, but complied, turning her back to him and muttering about overprotective, condescending fathers with nothing better to do then fit their preteen daughters with strait jackets (a spiel she'd adapted from a somewhat less kosher gripe of her brother's).

Nyx's grumbling quickly morphed into a shocked shriek as Alec smacked her on the backside. She twisted around to eye the X5 with wide brown eyes.

"There." Alec said matter-of-factly, and Nyx gaped incredulously as her eyebrows tilted up apprehensively.

"Dad, you said you weren't gonna…"

"I'm not." He held up his hands defensively with a brisk smirk as he turned to walk away, "There was a fly."

Nyx glared and rolled her eyes, continuing to mutter as she walked through the parking lot with Alec. The transgenics' breath rolled in and out of their mouths in invisible coils through the wintry night air, and their bronzed skin, even with the internal furnace unique to their kind, flushed slightly from the cold.

"That hurt, you know." Nyx mumbled, eyes glued to the floor but still blazing with indignation. The young girl was still grappling with a mix of raging emotions regarding the day's events and had settled for brooding darkly over the fact that her parents had chosen to exclude her from the game despite the major playing card Nyx had managed to score them.

"It was a _really_ big fly." Alec replied with a shrug.

"Hey!"

The call was barked out roughly and echoed from their left. Nyx and Alec turned to catch a glimpse of a rotund, unshaven man clutching a greasy cleaning rag in one hand and a pistol in the other as he poked his head out from a side door of the café.

"We're closed! Clear off!"

"Oh that's too bad. Never mind, we'll come back another day." Alec replied casually, but Nyx felt the imperceptible shift in her father's tone and stance and moved nonchalantly to stand behind him in compliance with the silent command.

"Damn prowlers sniffin' around my joint," The man was slurring his words and seemed to be somewhat drunk. "I seen'em." He waved his pistol absently at the darkness, and Nyx bit her lip as Alec tensed visibly and his hand reached behind him to grip his little girl's shoulder.

"The young'un's these days got no decency, no etiquette or however it is ya put it." The intoxicated owner stumbled out of the door and swooned slightly as he did so. "Come trash my place with rocks and eggs 'n spray the walls with all their shit…"

"Yeah it's a real sick world. Come on, Nyxie, let's get outta here, huh?" Alec uttered his last sentence quietly as he steered Nyx back towards the truck, watching the man closely from the corner of his eye as he did so.

"S'right, buddy! Best get that pretty lil' sister o' yours home!" The drunk called out somberly after the cautiously-retreating transgenics. "There's a whole lotta them Manticore freaks o' nature lurkin' round these parts! Don't wanna get caught after dark!"

"Oh that _bastard_!" Nyx whispered through grit teeth as her eyebrows knit and her step faltered slightly.

"Man's drunk, just keep goin'." Alec picked up the pace and clutched Nyx's elbow tighter as they approached the truck. The X5 was tempted to be surprised by the fact that his daughter was even gracing the inebriated man's spout-off with her attention.

But then, Alec recalled wryly, Nyx was among the generation of transgenics growing up within the sheltered haven of Terminal City. She, like many of Manticore's second generation, was relatively unaccustomed to the acid abuse and prejudice still prevalent in society at large. Max and Alec had done their best to equip Brac and Nyx with an understanding of the bias, and had worked hard to make sure their children, at the very least, knew how they were meant to respond (or - as far as Alec and Max's stance on the matter went – make no response whatsoever).

Still, both X5s were well aware that the absence of an emotional callous in that department made both Brac and Nyx more vulnerable targets.

"God, is he still talking?" Nyx's small face was pinched into an expression of fury as she twisted, hands on her hips, to eye the drunken man across the lot with disbelief.

"Just ignore him." Alec replied with a purse of his lips as he unlocked the truck and opened the passenger door for his daughter, "Get in, c'mon."

"Just makes me wanna throttle him." Nyx growled as she complied and scooted into her seat, "This past year's been totally horrendous and all the crap's been comin' from everyone _except_ the transgenics so far!"

"Don't worry your head about it, baby." Alec closed the door and quickly slid into the driver's seat. "Let's just get on home, huh, whaddya say?"

"I say _no_!" Nyx clicked her seatbelt on and raised her eyebrows at her father as Alec pulled the truck out of the parking lot, "I still think I should be able to go to Wisconsin with you and mom…"

"Forget about it." Alec informed her bluntly.

"I can help!" Nyx all but yelled as her feathers were fully ruffled by the solid rebuttal, "It was _me_ who got the info on Tarrant and it was _my_ bomb in the air vent and _my_ goddamn borrowed pick-up, Dad! And I don't think it's fair for you guys to say…"

She got no further, instead flinging out her palms to brace against the side of the door as the truck suddenly jolted and swerved violently, grazing the sidewalk. Nyx watched as Alec spun the wheel in a figure-of-eight, never losing control of the truck as he maneuvered the rusty pick-up back into normal swing.

"What the hell? That car just rammed us!" Nyx yelled, twisting behind to get a look at the vehicle which had just pulled a vicious swerve that had nearly cleaved the hood of their truck in two with a lamppost.

"Oh really?!" Alec's jaw was tightly clenched as he switched gears and pulled the truck sharply down a small side road and the ancient tires squealed in protest.

"It's following us!" Nyx called out, squinting against the bright headlights of the tailing car as it ruthlessly pursued, "Some kinda big-ass jeep!"

"Yeah well it might have a fat ass but right now it's the beer belly I'm trippin' out about!" Alec grit his teeth as he floored the accelerator just in time to avoid his bumper being smashed. "Shit." He swore openly as they barely made a hairpin curve and grazed the wall, "You better brace yourself, kiddo, this is gonna be a rough ride!"

Nyx instantly gripped the back of her head in the cradle of her arms and pressed her forehead against her knees. "Who are they? Why are they trying to take us out?"

"I dunno; just keep your head down!" Alec roared as they took another slam from the jeep behind them. "Okay that's it." He muttered under his breath, "Bastard's goin' down." He threw a quick glance at his daughter who was looking up from her protected position with wide, apprehensive eyes.

"Still with me, baby?"

"Yeah, just quit messing around and get us outta here!" Nyx's tone flowed from rigid to panicked as the truck lurched dramatically down another alleyway, their attacker hot in pursuit.

"I'm workin' on it!" Alec yelled back sourly as he focused his efforts on maneuvering the bulky pick-up which was a far cry from the sleek, lightweight McDowell Lexus with which the X5 was used to losing stalkers in Seattle's seedy back alleys.

"Well work on it _faster_, cuz this truck's a piece of crap!" Nyx ran the fingers she was cupping her head in through the tangled mess of her silky brown hair.

"You're tellin' me?" Alec blew out a breath in frustration and narrowed his eyes at the car in his rearview mirror as he took a sharp turn and swung the rear of his truck around, "The day you finally start drivin', you are _so_ not picking your own car!"


	11. Chapter 11

"Max!" The over-enthusiastic pitch which quivered in Luke's voice as the nomalie stood to greet the svelte X5 striding stormily into TC central did little to assuage the woman's agitation.

"Glad to see you made it back okay! We were uh," Luke backed up ever so slightly as Max, face set stonily into an icy glower advanced on him, "I uh saw you on the box – you did smashin'…"

"Cut the bullshit, Luke! Where are they?" Max snapped, eyebrows narrowing and arms crossing over the bust of her leather jacket.

"Where's uh where's _who_?" Luke chuckled nervously and eyed Zack, who was standing behind Max, with wide eyes, "Hey, a new face in Terminal City! _That's_ a novel event, I…" The nomalie moved to side-step Max but she followed suit and blocked his path.

"Mole, Joshua, Dix, Reever – where the hell have they run off to, Luke?" Max demanded angrily as her arms uncrossed and her fists balled up by her sides in an intimidating stance.

"I dunno, Max, I swear." Luke protested and then hastily stepped back as Max moved a foot closer with a dangerous widening of her eyes, "Look, they took off this morning, okay? But I got no freaking idea where they went?"

"Well I'd start tryin' to dig it up real fast there, Luke," Max responded acidly, her voice rising an octave as the cell phone in her jacket began to peal, "Or I swear _you're_ gonna freaking disappear!"

"Are you gonna get that?" Luke pointed to the concealed phone with a desperate look on his face, and then winced at the warning glare Max sent his way, "Just sayin', it might be Alec or somethin'! Jeez, woman!"

"Shut up," Max barked before pulling out her phone and holding it to her ear, "Hello?...speaking…"

Zack and Luke watched in concern as Max's dark brown eyes flared up with shock and an indecipherable barrage of emotions.

The next word she spoke came out as a trembling gasp.

"_What_?"

"Here you go." Asha's face was a picture of motherly concern as the former S1-W activist handed the young, haggard girl seated at her table a steaming mug.

"This should take the edge off that cold of yours, huh?" Asha reached down and rubbed the blanket-covered shoulders gently for a fleeting moment before she retracted her hand and glanced over at her husband.

"Can you tell me again what you told the Seattle P.D?" Logan's tone was quiet and gentle, but the firmness of his eyes and the slight gather at the corner of his mouth told Asha that something about the teenage girl seated across from him had Logan Cale on edge.

"I told them where Bren's gang was keeping all of us." Casey Trendon sniffed and blew at the cloud of smoke rising from her hot chocolate, "Told'em 'bout the blood transfusion and the propaganda sessions going on." Her eyes, bleary from lack of sleep, spoke sad, untold volumes, "Told'em about Brac McDowell and said I needed to get in contact with his parents."

"And you said the police department was unsure about your story?" Logan scrunched his eyebrows together and frowned as Casey took a sip of her drink and nodded.

"Well they said they would personally inform the McDowell's about the situation and that they'd take it from there." Casey's lips tightened, "But the whole way they went about it was just…"

"Deceptive?" Logan suggested coolly, and the young girl scowled at her mug.

"_Dismissive_," She corrected in a confused tone, "I mean, they were treating me like I was one of those people who showed up claiming to be Anastasia in the nineties or something!"

"It's unsurprising." Logan allowed a faint trace of the anger he felt rising in his gut to spill into his voice as Asha flashed him a worried glance, "Considering that this case of abduction has received more media coverage in three weeks then all the box office hits put together, the amount of resources devoted to locating your kidnappers has been pitiful!"

"I don't understand," Casey knit her eyebrows and glanced at Logan in pained bewilderment, "you mean they weren't even looking for us this whole time?"

"Yes and no." Logan responded with a heavy sigh as he pushed away from his chair and stood up to eye Casey sympathetically, "It's a very sticky situation as far as the government is concerned. The transgenic union wants to handle things _their_ way, and the rest of the country wants to send in hostage negotiators or flood the place with tear gas."

"Brac _said_ his parents would want to solve this on their own." Casey nodded with a far-away gleam in her eyes as she studied the linoleum pattern on the floor.

"Did you actually _see_ Brac? I mean, did you speak to him, was he alright?" Asha interjected with a query of her own, and Casey's gaze flicked up to find both of the Cale's eyeing her with expressions that oozed unabashed concern for the object of the question.

"I saw him four times." Casey bit her lip wistfully and her eyes glistened with the dark memories from her period of captivity, "Three of them when he was trying to escape. Brac did that a lot." She added with a soft laugh which could also have been interpreted as a whisper. "He never made it out though," She held Logan's gaze forlornly, "But damn did he give Bren and her crew a hell of a time while he tried!"

"He's given up?" Asha queried in skeptical disbelief as she rubbed her lean biceps and raised her eyebrows at Logan.

"He got too weak!" Casey replied dejectedly, eyes returning to the floor once more, "They keep taking blood from him and after a few weeks, he just stopped eating in protest."

Logan's eyes went hard and angry, and Asha's closed briefly before Casey finished her statement hesitantly.

"I tried to get him out when I broke free, but he couldn't make it." She shrugged despondently and tugged the blanket back up her shoulders, "It was down to Brac I made it outta there at all, though. He distracted them long enough for me to get a clean shot at making a run for it. Said I had it in me and that I could make it if I tried."

"Sounds like Brac still has his head in full working gear." Logan remarked with a tangible strain of relief in his voice.

"Yeah and his mouth as well." Casey smiled wanly, "I haven't had a lecture like that since my dad flew the coop back when I was nine. I wonder where a kid so young pulls that kinda sternness from!"

"Meet his parents and trust me, you won't wonder anymore." Logan cracked a dutiful grin and then pulled out his phone, "Well I've called his mother now and given her the run-down, so I'd brace myself for a third-degree interrogation if I were you, Casey."

"Oh repeating it one more time won't make a bit of difference." The teenager scoffed, flailing a dismissive hand at Logan before her eyes returned to their downcast position. "First police station I reached, they flew me to Seattle in a helicopter and locked me in one of those mirror rooms with three detectives breathing questions down my neck."

Asha's quiet chuckle inferred that the woman understood and sympathized with Casey Trendon's plight.

"I wasn't really ready to answer so many questions right off bat, you know?" Casey raised her eyebrows and Logan nodded, "Guess I'm just afraid I might screw up somewhere and get things mixed…cuz that would majorly suck. I wouldn't want'em throwing my whole statement out the window just because I mess some names up or something."

"I wouldn't worry about it." Logan reassured her quietly, "Long as Max and Alec buy it, you got nothing left to worry about."

"I do though." Casey looked up at the man, chewing on her lip briefly as she gazed at him with fear dancing in her eyes, "I got Brac."

"Max, where do you think you're going?" Zack snapped the question in a manner that transformed it into a challenging command as his long-time friend swung a leg over her Ninja and zipped her jacket up snugly under her chin.

"To find Alec. He and Nyx were meant to show at TC over an hour ago!" Max responded matter-of-factly. "Logan just buzzed me and said that one of the kids bein' held by the S.S escaped earlier this evening. They flew her to Seattle and cross-examined her, but Logan's got her now so we gotta make a beeline for his place ASAP." The words were spilling from Max's mouth in a hasty stream as she tightened the Velcro straps on her leather biker gloves and then twisted to face Zack, "So you comin' or what?"

"Mind tellin' me how your takin' off in the middle of the night to get answers you could just read off the report falling under the category of 'smart' in your mind right now?" Zack had digested the information as quickly as Max had dished it out and was evidently treading the path of over-caution (as was his nature).

"Once the feds get a lock-down on Brac's location, they're gonna bring in the tanks and the SWAT teams. I can't let that happen or it's gonna be war." Max was already twisting her key in the ignition, _And our son's gonna get caught in damn crossfire. __So__ not gonna happen if Alec and I have anything to say about it._

"Not sayin' you're wrong, but use your head here, little sister!" Zack's tone had streamlined into brusque, C.O mode and Max could feel her body attempting to respond in the habitual manner it always had done – a rigid snap of attention and a 'sir, yes, sir'.

"What you need to do now is work out logistics, form a strategy, and get a goddamn plan together…"

"That's what…"

"A plan that _doesn't_ involve you marching in there and getting your ass shot!" Zack raised his voice to squelch the protest Max had been about to issue.

"This is my son we're takin' about here, Zack, and if you think Alec and I would just rush inta a rescue without havin' _every single detail_ under wraps, you got another thing comin'!" Max's eyes flared and her lips tightened along with her jaw as she locked horns with the tall X5 barring her way.

Zack scoffed, "Way I remember it, that was more often then not the way it worked with you, Maxie…"

"I don't have time for this!" She snapped stonily as she revved her bike to life. "Either help me find Alec and come with us to Logan's, or get the hell outta my way!"

"You can't go back out there! It's not safe!" Her brother insisted, and Max's eyes narrowed at the command.

"That's my family out there. You try and stop me."

"You're family's in here too." Zack reminded her as he clamped a hand down on the handle of her bike and looked intently at her, "Looking out for the greater good used to make a bit of sense to the Max Guevara _I_ knew before."

Max eyed him coldly for a moment before she averted her gaze and responded. "Yeah well the Max Guevara _you_ knew wasn't in love with a fool-ass mate," Her eyes met her brother's, sad but determined, "and she sure as hell wasn't a mother."

"I can't let you go alone." Zack's tone had quieted and he seemed to be suppressing a rising wave of hurt.

"Then come with me." Max offered, holding Zack's gaze for a moment with silent apology ringing in her eyes. _I know you're just trying to look out for me, Zack. And I love you for it, don't get me wrong. _

_But I love them too. More then life itself. And I swear to God I'll kick your ass if you park it in my way on this. _

Zack blew out a heavy, resigned breath. "Fine. But we stick together."

"Only if your bike can keep swing with mine, soldier-boy." Max's sarcasm kicked back into gear, and she flicked her glossy long hair over her shoulder with a small snort of derision that had her brother rolling his eyes.

"Whatever, kid."


	12. Chapter 12

Max and Zack cruised their bikes through the dark streets of Seattle, prowling the alleyways and circuiting the main roads within a ten-mile radius.

Nothing. No sign of Alec, Nyx, or anything out of the ordinary (barring a group of thugs who attempted to hijack the X5's bikes at one point, and were still whimpering out apologies even after Max and Zack had left them on their asses in a puddle).

At two-thirty AM, they made the decision to split. Actually, it was _Max's_ decision, and Zack had bucked against it until his sister dared him to tail her ass through every strip joint in Seattle.

Zack had seen the light - and given Max nothing more then a stern glower in compliance - but the transgenics had parted ways to comb through the sectors on their own.

At three-twenty AM, Max's cell phone rang and one glance at the caller ID had her swaying with relief. She'd answered immediately and had left the seedy steak joint where her mate often knocked back chow on his way home from field assignments, not even looking back.

At exactly three-thirty in the morning, Max Guevara pulled up her Ninja outside the nearest Seattle emergency centre and tore through the proverbial equivalent of a hundred yards of official red tape in the space of five minutes.

Now, at 3:40 AM, Max was following Allen Johnston – the hospital's in-house Transgenic Med specialist (and the McDowell's personal family doctor for the past ten years) – down a harshly-lit corridor.

"How's she doing?" Max felt the worry in her voice corroding the anger in her mind as Johnston shoved open a set of doors and ushered Max through.

"Ah you know Nyxie. Already demanding to be released and insisting that she's 'ace'." Johnston's lips twisted in to a frustrated smile, "Alec's with her now, trying to get her to cooperate with an examination. I ran an X-ray and so far nothing seems broken, but for some reason her breathing's not as easy as I'd like it to be."

Max nodded in understanding. Brac and Nyx had inherited their parents' aversion to hospitals. When they had been younger, a sticker and a lollipop had been enough motivation to keep them still long enough to get their treatment, but nowadays?

_Alec said he even dangled the prospect of a bottle of Bud under Brac's nose when the doc was trying to X-ray his knee and Brac got cold feet._ Max shook her head in disbelief, _Boy just said he'd give it to Johnston in exchange for the man leavin' him alone. _

Max had never heard the full story of just how Alec had managed to coax (or pressure) their son into getting treated. Though she had caught snatches on the rumor mill…something about Alec threatening to haul Brac's ass down to the pediatrics wing and have the kid signed in 'indefinitely'.

"How's Alec?" Max swallowed at the hitch in her voice as she broached the question, still keeping pace effortlessly with Johnston as they entered the correct wing of the hospital.

"No sign of internal injury anywhere." The doctor shrugged with a tightening of his lips which suggested Alec had, as usual, complained heavily through his entire examination. "A fair amount of bruising and a cut above his eyebrow, but nothing that'll put a dampener on his ability to keep up with the hunt." He cast a concerned, sidelong glance at Max as he pushed open the door to an observation room, "How's it coming, by the way?"

"Good. We got a lead on…"

"Mom!"

Max didn't finish her sentence as Nyx jumped up from the patient's table she'd been sitting on and threw her arms around her mother.

"Thank god you're alright!" Nyx groaned in relief as Max threaded her fingers through her daughter's rumpled hair.

"Ditto, Nyx McDowell!" Max's response rung with just enough sternness to remind her daughter of the severity of the situation, and just enough gentleness to let her know Max was content to let well enough alone for the present.

"See, Dad!" Nyx kept an arm wrapped tightly around Max's waist as she turned to raise her eyebrows at Alec and held out her hand, "I told you! Cough it up, ten bucks, on the skin, right here!"

"Sweet Jesus, look at your face!" Max gasped as she caught sight of her mate standing up from the bed and took in his multiple bruises with concern.

"Geez, Max! I know it's a winner, but please, you're embarrassing me here!" Alec smirked and opened his arms as Max strode purposefully into them. The two shared a short embrace that was far too passionate in its intensity to be mistaken for the brisk hug it could otherwise have been interpreted as.

Nyx and Dr Allen exchanged a dubious eyebrow raise and the latter backed a few feet away. Both knew full well what was coming next.

"You asshole!" Max snapped, shoving away from Alec right before he cuffed her upside the head.

"Me? You're the one who took off and wouldn't even pick up your goddamn cell!"

"What, couldn't get through to my phone? That's probably cuz it was engaged tryin' to get in touch with _you_!" Max slugged him in the shoulder.

"Yeah well _I_, unlike _you_," Alec stabbed a finger into Max's forehead and shoved her head back, "had my hands full! Ah, ah, ah," He blocked Max's wrist as she moved to smack his head, "Rules o' war, Maxie – gotta dish out a comeback first!"

"I'm gonna be dishing out a whole new kinda _comeback_ in a minute…"

"AHEM!" Johnston's vigorous throat-clearing captured Alec and Max's attention long enough to alert them to the fact that the doctor was wearing an expression that said 'we have other things to work out – can you two please do this later?'.

"We need to proceed with the examination." Johnston nodded at Nyx, who narrowed her eyes and tapped her chest before spreading her hands.

"You wanna piece o' this, Johnston?"

"Nyx…" Max and Alec both admonished in unison.

"No! I'm not getting his stupid examination, Mom! Dad didn't do it; _I_ don't have to do it! End of story!" Nyx crossed her arms and sent Johnston one of her death glares as the man readied the stethoscope at the silent behest of Alec.

"Nyx, it's gonna be real quick and easy. All Johnston has to do is take a look at your breathing." Max moved closer to her daughter, noting for the first time that Nyx's chest was heaving in short, shallow gasps.

"But I'm fine! Can't we just go to Wisconsin and find Brac…"

"Don't even go there. We already had that conversation." Alec warned with a dark frown of warning, and Nyx pouted in response.

"Uh Nyx, you should really be sitting. You're still a little shaky on your feet." Johnston stated before turning to Max and Alec with an eyebrow-raise that begged for support. He had only broached the question to the girl as a token gesture – not in all ten years of Johnston's treatment had Nyx McDowell ever done something because _he_ had asked her to.

"You're gonna be more then just 'a little shaky on your feet' if you don't shut your…"

"Nyx, would you lay off the drama? It's gettin' _real_ old!." Alec had evidently had enough of his daughter for one day, and the manner in which he wrapped his arms tightly around Max's shoulders from behind communicated as much to his mate.

"You want me to sit down and let him check me? Fine!" Nyx threw Max and Alec a look of finality, "Let me go to Wisconsin with you and he can do a _cat-scan_ for all I care!"

"You don't park that stubborn ass o' yours on the chair _right_ about now, so help me god, you won't be _able_ to ..."

"Alec!" Max whispered into his ear as she rested her head back against her mate's shoulder, "Calm down."

"Come on, Maxie." He grumbled under his breath, "Been stuck with Nyx's charming alter-ego all freaking night here – gimme a break!" Alec the Imposing Parent had quickly morphed into Alec the Whiny Lil' Boy as he nuzzled into Max's tangled hair, evidently relishing the familiar scent and comfort.

She rolled her eyes at the poor-me act and reached behind her to ruffle Alec's hair, "Well then go to the cafeteria downstairs and get us some coffee or something!" Max knew the mood her boy was presently stewing in well enough to want him out of the room. An injured, tired Alec with no food in his stomach and trapped inside the four walls of a hospital was never a good thing for anyone in the vicinity.

"Hospital coffee sucks." Alec was reminding her with a growl as he tightened his grip around Max's slender frame in protest.

"Well there's always plenty of junk food to go around, plus you can get a couple o' those grilled sandwiches – and you _know_ you still like those!" Max was secretly basking in the attention from her mate. It always seemed like an eternity passed during the times they spent apart – and the harrowing events of this particular separation had both X5s craving the security of physical proximity right about then.

Still, a wired Max was a moody Max, a hungry Alec was a cranky Alec, and a knee-deep-in-shit Nyx was almost always an obstinate Nyx.

And a moody Max, a cranky Alec and an obstinate Nyx never failed to equal T-R-O-U-B-L-E no matter _how_ the sum was worked to figure.

"Fine." Alec reluctantly untangled himself from the warm press of his and Max's embrace and pulled his sweater over the white T-shirt he was wearing. "I'll go get us somethin' to eat."

Max smiled appreciatively and Alec's grin suggested he was eating up the gesture. The smirk disappeared as quickly as it had come as the cocky X5 pointed a finger at Nyx while raising his eyebrows at Max.

"If I come back and she hasn't gotten her breathin' checked out…"

"Alec, would you just…" Max shook her fists beside her head in frustration as Nyx drew herself up to snap back at her dad, "…go to the cafeteria and get some food in your stomach before you go crawlin' up the walls and drag the rest o' us with you?!"

"Fine, I'm goin'!" Alec threw Max a defensive glare as he headed out of the room, before turning on his heels, "You want a Twix or a Snickers…"

"Alec! Just go!" Max yelled, and he smirked, evidently satisfied at having successfully ruffled his mate's nerves.

"Okay, okay, I'm goin'! Sheesh!"

Max huffed at his obstinacy and turned to Nyx, "What exactly happened?"

"We were just like four miles off T.C when we got rammed by this jeep." Nyx's young face was set into a grimace of concentration as she collected all the details, "Dad took it for a joyride down the side alleys, but it just wouldn't get off our tail and kept freaking bulldozing!"

"Any idea who they were or what they were after?" Max wanted nothing more then to hug Nyx to her side and keep her there indefinitely, but the X5 knew her children well enough to be aware that Brac and Nyx took after their parents in wanting to remain _entirely untouched_ when there was any sort of injury prevailing.

"Who they were?" Nyx looked bewildered, "Still haven't got a clue in the world. What they wanted?" She scowled and crossed her arms, "It definitely had something to do with the pick-up's bumper and the nearest freaking lamppost, I can tell you _that_ much!"

"Your dad said you guys got veered off the road." Max felt Johnston's eyes on her and responded to the silent communiqué, sitting back onto the bed and gripping Nyx's hand so that her daughter followed suit.

"Uh well it a hairpin curve – you know, the one just off o' Snyder Street." Nyx's hand was cold, Max noted with internal concern, and the girl's fingertips were tapping against the bare circles of skin on Max's leather gloves restlessly. "Of course, Dad's made that turn a hundred times, but never in a huge ol' rusty pick-up with a 4 X 4 ramming up his ass…."

"Just the basics, Nyxie." Max interrupted as gently as she could, "Still gotta let the doctor check you before your dad gets back and eats your candy in retaliation."

"Uh god," Nyx rolled her eyes but made no further comment on the subject, "Anyway, yeah, we took a nosedive and went straight down the hill," She sailed a hand in explanation, "Luckily that huge fence closing off Marker's Farm broke our stride or we would've crashed into that disgusting heap of manure just ten yards off from it!"

Max had to smile as her daughter crinkled her nose in disgust at the mental picture.

"Woulda made for a softer pit-stop." Max squeezed Nyx's hand as the girl visibly winced and drew in a shuddery breath. "What is it?"

"Just remembering the crash." Nyx shook her head, but Max knew her daughter's tellers like the back of her own hand, and this time it was the X5s turn to wince.

"Nyxie, where's it hurt?"

Nyx's lips twisted and she avoided her mother's gaze as Max softly brushed her fresh-cropped bangs out of the way. "Here," She finally muttered as she motioned to her collar.

"Can I see?" Max enquired carefully, and Nyx blanched in trepidation, "I'm not gonna touch it, baby, I promise."

"Alright but you _can't_ tell Dad!" Nyx looked up at her mother's dark brown eyes, her own orbs filled with worry.

"Why not, Nyxie?"

"Just don't tell him!" Nyx barked, and Max raised an eyebrow as her lips pressed into a displeased purse. Her daughter's face was picture of pleading.

"It's just…it happened when I was in the jail and I don't want Dad to find out or else he's gonna…" Nyx seemed to catch herself then and bit her lip, staring at the floor for a second before she continued, "He's gonna kill Tarrant." She whispered.

Max's expression went cold at that statement. She glanced up at Johnston, who had evidently heard the young girl's trembling words and was toying with whether or not he should beat a hasty retreat.

"Could you give us a minute?" The request was more of a command from Max, whose face was set into a stony glaze. Johnston was familiar with that look and merely nodded, exiting the room and clicking the door softly shut behind him.

Nyx watched the man leave with evident distress on her face as she was left alone with Max – who, the girl noted, had now twisted fully to face Nyx.

"Let me see your chest." Max ordered quietly, and Nyx squirmed at the harsh undercurrent in the X5's tone.

"It's not my chest…"

"Nyx, I swear if you don't start shedding some _serious_ light for me by the time Alec walks through that door, I'm telling him _everything_ you said!" Max snapped, and the threat was sufficient incentive for Nyx, who knew full well that Alec would not only wring every possible detail out of her, but would also likely thrash her ass for keeping something of that magnitude from her parents .

"Fine." Nyx mumbled in surrender, throwing a furtive glance at the half-open blinds on the window to ensure security. Satisfied, she pulled in her lips and squinted as she unzipped her turtle-neck tank.

Max's eyes narrowed and then widened simultaneously as the zipper opened to reveal her daughter's collarbone – and the ugly purple bruising on her windpipe.

"What happened?"

"It was only for like two seconds!" Nyx rushed to assure her mother, whose face the epitome of a gathering thunderstorm about to unleash itself upon the world. "Okay, look – I got in to see Tarrant and I injected him under the table with ethyl alcohol – you know, one of those truth serum thingies."

"What happened to your throat?" Max repeated stonily, and Nyx's frown deepened.

"I'm getting to that! So anyway I talked with him until everything came out and then I needed to knock him out, because that way it would be enough distraction for me to make a clean getaway…"

"Nyxie, what the _hell_ did that whack-job do to your throat?!" Max thundered, clearly at breaking point and not giving a flying fuck who knew it.

"I was dosing him with a sedative when he pulled me under the table and we had a little tousle, okay?" Nyx snapped as Max titled up her daughter's chin and examined the finger-shaped bruises.

"Define 'little tousle'."

"What does it _look_ like happened, Mom?" Nyx seemed clearly displeased at the steadily-rising angst levels, "Anyway I knocked him out and made it in one shot so there's nothing to discuss…"

"If it's affecting how you breathe, you need to let Johnston check it out." Max was clearly not in the mood for discussing _anything_ just then. Nyx shifted in her seat and whimpered slightly at the prospect, but a deadly glare from Max quickly shut her up.

"Let Johnston check you _now_ and I promise I won't say a word about it to your dad." Max raised her eyebrows and Nyx muttered out a defeated "Okay," in response.

"But that's just in _my_ corner, Nyxie." Max warned as she stood up and signaled through the window for the doctor to re-enter. "Johnston and I can keep a lid on our mouths till hell freezes over, but if Alec starts in with the questions, we are _not_ gonna lie for you, you got me?"

"Yeah I got you." Nyx said softly as she flicked her hair over her shoulders to leave her neck fully exposed. Max's shoulders relaxed slightly and the woman reached down to give her little girl's hand a tight squeeze.

"It's gonna be okay, baby."

"It already is." Nyx responded with a brief - but genuine - smile. Then she frowned darkly, "So long as you don't tell Dad!"


	13. Chapter 13

"Here you go, sir – thirty-five cents change." The middle-aged woman at the cash register smiled at Alec as though he was a Galaxy bar and she was a chocoholic.

"Ah stick it in that can." Alec waved a finger briefly at the 'Fight Cancer' box to her right, "It's not even gonna buy me a Coke, but who knows?" He flashed her a brief smirk, "Might just make up the thousand bucks some kid needs for an op one day, know what I'm sayin'?"

"I think it's wonderful when people are actively aware of just how difference every cent can make!" The woman beamed as she placed the coins in the slot, eyes glued to Alec adoringly, "Though no offence, but by the looks of you, I'd reckon you might be in line for some medical attention yourself!"

"Been there, done that." Alec shook his head as he slung the plastic bag full of purchases over his shoulder and turned leave, "Wasn't much fun. Figured someone else might like a shot at it though."

"Like your daughter, for one?"

Alec eyed the tall, blonde man slouched in the dull blue plastic of a waiting bench.

"Excuse me?"

The man shrugged at the challenging tone in the X5's voice and pushed off from his seat as Alec strode to stand beside him, "Just wondering if your sudden interest in the _prosperity_ of the medical industry doesn't have anything to do with the fact that your kid's upstairs getting treated for a _car_ crash."

Alec's lips tightened into a purse and he squinted at the imposing figure now eyeing him matter-of-factly. Alec nodded in understanding.

"Oh hey Zack. Nice meetin' you again. You know Max mentioned you'd been _stalkin'_ her since D.C."

"_Someone_ has to watch her back!" Zack crossed his arms and returned Alec's cold glare, "And since you were otherwise engaged, I guess that means it's down to _me_ to keep her safe."

"See that's one o' the things you just never understood about her, Zackie." Alec rolled his eyes with a dry grimace, "Max's got enough _creepos_ breathin' down her neck. Woman needs her space if you know what I'm sayin' – oh wait, you probably don't."

"Max _never_ went down on my watch, 494." Zack uncrossed his arms and took a step forward with a dark expression across his features, "You on the other hand? You can barely keep your own ass clear, let alone hers!"

"Yeah see I'm gonna have a hard time believin' you on that one," Alec's matter-of-fact tone began to ring with danger, "Seein' as when Max showed up at Manticore right before she torched the place, it was with a bullet through her chest that took her down _on your watch_."

"I didn't think she'd let you forget that it's _my_ heartbeat keepin' her alive!" Zack barked, and Alec's eyes lowered at that statement, "And let's not forget your children in the equation!"

"You don't know jack _shit_ about our kids." Alec's face was stony and the plastic bag had slouched to the chair.

Zack raised an eyebrow, "I know this is the second time that Brac's been kidnapped in the space of four months!"

"Been stalkin' him as well, I take it?" Alec snapped.

"And I know Nyxie's been sneaking out of Terminal City for the past two weeks workin' out the details for her interview with Tarrant!" Zack's lips were pressed together in frustration as he spoke, "So maybe I'm not the world's biggest Good Guy, 494, but you could do with taking at least _one_ leaf outta my book and keep a better leash on your family!"

Alec looked away with a raise of his eyebrows, evidently scanning the surrounding area and wondering how much of a stir his beating Zack to a pulp would cause in the lobby.

Zack shook his head darkly, "Go ahead – I'd dig the shot to add to your bruises."

Alec inhaled deeply before blowing out the breath, turning to face Zack with a plastic smile and a light pat on his shoulder.

"See ya round, Zackie-boy."

The X5 turned on his heels and headed up to the treatment room without another word, feeling Zack's heated glare on his back but choosing to ignore it. Alec had no intention of allowing the confrontation to get physical – the energy would go a whole lot further plugged into other avenues of expenditure.

As he pushed open the door to the observation room, Alec felt himself frown slightly at the manner in which Max jumped up to greet him.

"Alec! Thank god, I'm starving!" She snatched the bag off him and peeked inside with a wide – and notably insincere – grin, "What took you so long?"

"Ah just had a little run-in with your creepy Cyborg stalker." Alec's tone caused Max to look up at her mate with a worried frown.

"I told Zack to wait in the reception lounge."

"Why'd you bring the damn idiot in the first place, Maxie?" Alec demanded with an incredulous tilt of his eyebrows, and Nyx groaned from her position on the bed.

"Can you two _stop_? I mean we've only been together for what, an hour? Sheesh!" The girl was closing her eyes tightly and pinching the bridge of her nose in a manner that caused Max's eyes to flicker with alarm and Alec's scowl to shift and deepen.

"You okay?" The latter asked, and Nyx's eyes remained closed as she shook her head and rubbed her forehead.

"Yeah, it's just a headache."

Alec and Max exchanged worried glances and Johnston opened his mouth before closing it once more.

"I'm _fine_!" Nyx snapped as she opened her eyes and caught sight of the concerned faces, "Can we just get outta this damn hospital cuz it's driving me up the wall!"

"Sure, except you don't get headaches." Alec responded flatly as he removed a paper-wrapped sandwich from the bag and moved to stand beside his daughter, "Here, eat somethin'. It might help."

"M'not hungry." Nyx mumbled, wincing and pressing her palm against her forehead as her eyes scrunched shut once more.

Alec turned to Johnston and Max, "Did she get checked out?"

"Yeah, there's uh no sign of abrasions or any kind of bronchial clogging." The doctor responded smoothly as Max watched her daughter unwrap the sandwich and squint at it as though it was a floodlight.

"'Kay, and what about her trachea?"

"Well considering what your daughter's been through these past hours, I'd say overall everything's definitely on the upswing." Johnston carefully evaded the question.

"Any idea why she could be gettin' a headache?" Alec's eyebrows furrowed up dubiously, "Cuz you know Nyxie – she could traipse around a small pox ward and come out clean."

"It's a common symptom of exhaustion." Johnston shrugged, "Nyx could most likely use some solid shut-eye."

"Yeah I was thinking we could all head over to Logan's place. I mean it's only a couple hours drive and Nyx could crash in Xina's room while we go over some stuff with this Casey girl."

"Mom, I wanna talk to her as well." Nyx's words were slurring now and she had put the sandwich down to clutch her head with both hands.

"Not before you've gotten at least ten hours sleep and crammed down some proper food." Alec stroked the back of Nyx's hair with one and placed another over the hand she had pressed to her forehead. "Your hands are cold."

"Not cold enough." Nyx whined as she doubled over to rest her head in her hands, "I just wanna go to sleep."

"You're sure she doesn't have a concussion?" Max demanded with a concerned raise of her eyebrows, and Johnston nodded dubiously.

"Positive. No sign of any head injury whatsoever. Like I said, if I were you guys, I'd let her rest."

Nyx was already curling up on the examination bed and tucking her palms under the side of her face as her eyelids dropped once more. Both Max and Johnston were more or less aware that the young girl's current drowsiness and headache was just an after-effect of the anoxia her brain had been exposed to during the strangulation.

Medically, Johnston had declared Nyx fit for some shut-eye. But that didn't ease Max's fears.

Alec appeared to be glad for his daughter and was tugging on his coat. "Okay I called a cab about five minutes ago. We can wait outside reception." He moved to cradle Nyx up in his arms but Max stopped him.

"Alec, I'll carry her. You should take it easy."

"So should you." Alec responded staunchly as he snagged up Nyx's jacket and began to ease the sleeping girl into the garment, "Besides, there's no way in _hell_ I'm walking past Zack with _you_ with an armful o' Nyxie in tow."

Max rolled her eyes at her mate's stubbornness and resisted the urge to smack him upside the head as Alec scooped Nyx up gently into his arms. The girl stirred in her sleep and her head reflexively found the crook of Alec's neck as her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders.

"See? She's vice-grippin' already." Alec stated with a smug grin of triumph – which quickly left his face as he caught sight of the acerbic scowl Max was aiming at him. "Thanks for everything, Doc."

"Let me know how everything goes. Good luck, you guys." Johnston shook the hand Alec was extending to him briefly and then nodded at Max as the X5s headed to the reception lounge to await their ride.

"Kid's out like a light." Max commented with a brief flash of softness in her eyes as she walked alongside Alec, who was cradling the sleeping Nyx.

"Yeah it's got me trippin'. I don't like it one lil' bit." Alec's eyebrows were narrowed and he paused to hitch his daughter further up his hips as they waited for the elevator.

"She's fine. She just needs to sleep." Max sighed and then bit her lip as her foot tapped impatiently on the floor, "By the way, I uh…kinda told Zack he could come along to Logan's."

Alec turned to scowl heavily at his mate, "Max, _please_ be joking!"

"Well I didn't exactly have a choice in the matter!" She barked defensively under Alec's condemning glare, "He would've come whether we told him to or not!"

"See, _that's_ debatable!" Alec scoffed and Max rolled her eyes.

"You don't know Zack like I do, Alec…"

"Yeah and how well _do_ you know him exactly, Maxie? I'd be _real_ curious to find out just how deep the 'family ties' run…"

"It was _never_ like that and you know it!" Max snapped as the elevator chimed and the doors slid open. Both X5s jumped as a hardened pair of hazel eyes greeted them.

"Cab's here." Zack informed them brusquely as he pressed a finger against the hold button and then narrowed his eyes sharply at the pair, "Well, are you coming or aren't you?"

Alec's eyebrows shot up and he huffed out an incredulous scoff, but a deadpan stare from Max which clandestinely begged cooperation (and a barely-visible curl at the right corner of her lips which promised future reimbursement) had him rolling his eyes and shoving past Zack into the elevator.

Max's eyes were downcast and a brief smile of triumph flickered across her face as she stepped inside and the doors surged shut. The smirk left hastily to be replaced a gnawed bottom lip as Max had a sudden realization.

_Oh shit. I'm gonna be trapped in a car with Zack and Alec's feuding all the way to Logan's house!_


	14. Chapter 14

_Thanks for the continuing reviews! I'm on a roll now which is excellent as before the faucet was spluttering a little, lol. By the way, in case it isn't apparent enough with the myriad of typos, these chapters aren't edited or proof-read. Reason being so I can get them out to you faster - which I'm assuming is the greater priority. Enjoy, and if you review on this one, I know a lot of you are very insightful so it would be great if you could express exactly how you viewed this chapter. It was a tough one to cook up. Thanks._

_-- Tyler_

Several hours (and about a dozen shredded nerve-endings) later, all three X5's blew out separate, _highly_ relieved breaths as the taxi pulled up outside the Cale's home.

Zack was the first one to exit the car, slamming the shotgun door closed before leaning in to hand the Asian driver a roll of bills.

Max slid quickly out of the back and walked around to the other side of the vehicle, pulling open Alec's door as the man still had an armful of restlessly-sleeping Nyx McDowell.

"You got her?" Max queried, reaching out a hand to support Nyx's back as Alec ducked out of the car and straightened to his full height.

"Yeah it's cool." Alec's eyes ceased from digging their sharp green claws into Zack's leather jacket to give Nyx a worried once-over. "I've never seen her like this, Maxie…"

"What are you talkin' about?" Max's features scrunched into her give-me-a-break smile as they trudged towards the front door, "You know Nyxie! Brac always said she slept so much he was surprised she didn't curl and hibernate in winter!"

Max's voice had hitched when her son's name had rolled off her tongue.

Alec's jaw had clenched and he had swallowed heavily.

Yet both X5's continued with the conversation as though nothing had ever happened.

"Yeah well all the same," Alec nodded as Logan appeared in the dawn's early light, "I still wanna take her to see a neurologist when this is over."

"Sure thing. Hey, Logan." Max smiled warmly at their friend as Logan's keen eyes appraised them all for injuries, "Room for a fourth? I brought an old friend along."

Max and Alec watched Logan lock eyes with Zack and saw the man stiffen visibly. But if there was one thing Logan Cale had always been five-star at, it was moving on with life.

"Zack - it's good to see you." He and the X5 exchanged a brief, awkward nod before the latter forced an infinitesimal, polite smile.

"Logan - been a long time."

"Logan?" Asha appeared her husband and the woman's tired face erupted into a relieved grin as she spotted Alec, Max and Nyx – a grin which morphed into a surprised 'O' as Asha caught sight of Zack.

"Uh, new face. Hi there."

"Hi." Zack stated tightly, and Max felt the awkwardness of the situation hot on her face even in the frozen daybreak.

Miraculously, it was Alec who came to the rescue as he let out a token throat-clearing.

"Oh, come inside, guys! Quick, before Nyxie gets sick." Asha had fully taken over proceedings (which was likely just as well, due to the circumstances) and was ushering the clan inside.

"Just try and keep the noise level down, cuz Cade and Xina are asleep." The petite blonde woman closed the door behind the transgenics and flicked on the hallway light, "You can put Nyxie in our room, Alec, come on…"

"I think I know my way around the place." Alec rebuffed the offer with an appreciative grin as he headed for the staircase, Nyx stirring slightly in his grip.

"Alright, we'll be in the kitchen." Asha nodded and then turned to Zack and Max, both of whom were almost squirming with the discomfiture of the situation. "Casey's been waiting very anxiously to talk with you, Max."

"Feeling's mutual." Max uttered with a press of her lips as they followed Asha and Logan through the hallway and into the kitchen.

"Well she's had a harrowing couple o' hours, so you might wanna take it easy." Logan cautioned in a whisper as the teenage girl looked up through eyes that were tired and fearful but blazing with determination at the same time.

"Casey, I'd like you to meet Max Guevara." Logan evidently felt the need to stand on ceremony despite the sobriety of the introduction, "Max, this is Casey Trendon. I think you two have a lot to talk about."

Casey's face flooded with relief as she shifted the blanket around her to rise to her feet, "Miss Guevara…"

"Please, don't get up." Max was already moving to sit beside the young girl, evidently in enough control of her emotions to be keen on setting Casey at ease.

"I thought I'd _never_ get to speak with you!" Casey had apparently been keeping a steady lid on her anxiety but was now wiping at tears with her sleeve, "Those people at Seattle PD, they told me I didn't have any grounds for meeting with you guys, but I knew I _had_ to because Brac _told_ me to and he said that…"

"You actually talked to Brac?" Max forced herself to maintain a gentle front as she rested her elbows on her knees clasped her hands together, leaning in to eye Casey, "You saw him? Is he okay?"

"Yeah I saw quite a few times actually. Only talked with him once though." Casey heaved a shuddering sigh and then gazed at the floor as though searching the linoleum for an appropriate response to the last question.

"How is he?" Max insisted softly after a full minute of awkward silence had passed, "Don't worry, just spit it out, okay?" _Please tell me Brac's okay. Tell me he's alive. _

Casey shook her head and looked up to meet Max's eyes with glistening ones of her own, "Look, I don't really know how much you're gonna want to hear…"

"We're gonna need you to tell us pretty much everything you remember." An unfamiliar male voice had entered the scene now.

Casey glanced up to quickly to appraise the newcomer. The man who strode through the kitchen door was unmistakably Alec McDowell (though both he and Max were even better-looking in real life then the in the tacky shots the tabloids posted, Casey noted).

The expression he was wearing as he quietly moved a chair and placed it in front of her was what set Casey on edge. Alec's eyes were just on the cusp of being wide and his eyebrows titled up ever so slightly in concern as he pressed his lips together tightly and leant forward, resting a fist on his knee and cupping his chin in the other.

"Something that might not mean anything to you or that you didn't understand could be invaluable information for us." The undemanding yet gently insistent tone which Alec seemed to share with Max told Casey that both X5s had a fair amount of experience in communicating with teenagers under their belts.

Still, that didn't mean Casey had to trust them. She had been fed a great deal of media propaganda portraying Max Guevara and Alec McDowell as stern, uncompromising blockheads, with ruthless streaks and a combined knack for rash decisions. The last thing Casey wanted was for these people to storm Bren's stronghold with a troupe of transgenics and bring the whole thing crashing around Brac's head.

Casey swallowed as her mind assimilated the full collection of information regarding Brac's situation. "Okay then."

She was dissecting it now, pouring it through the sieve of her brain and filtering it out of her mouth.

Alec seemed to throw Max a look just then and his _girlfriend_ – is that what Casey was supposed to call her? She just knew that they weren't married – shook her head.

"I first saw Brac when I was still in Southview." Casey tucked a wisp of blonde hair behind her ear, "Bren had a bunch of us kids from the neighborhood locked up in the Manor House."

"Bren?" Max queried.

"She's the leader of their gang. I don't know very much about her except that she's a transgenic and she's _completely_ lost her mind." Casey scowled viciously at the memory of the scrawny, ill-tempered woman. "Anyway, somehow they'd caught Brac just as he was coming into Southview and I saw two of the men carrying him inside. They were saying something about a car crash and how they'd made sure not to hurt him. I…I don't quite know what happened."

"A car crash." Alec's face had clouded over and Casey would have shrank back from the anger rumbling in the X5s voice had she not been preoccupied with more important matters. "Comin' into Southview, you said?"

"Yeah," Casey nodded hesitantly, "They said they pushed him off the road just outside, but they didn't say which one."

She heard Brac's father whisper "God," under his breath as he dropped his head and rubbed a hand over the back of his skull.

"He wasn't all that hurt!" Casey tried to reassure the man, cursing herself for having misjudged her young friend's parents to this degree. They seemed to be emotional wet noodles at the moment.

"We're okay, just keep going." Max encouraged quietly in a tone which suggested she was worried but not as thrown as Casey had assumed.

"Bren and her people were all excited about having Brac." Casey huddled deeper into her blanket and continued with her story, "She was telling them to get the _tubes_." She whispered the last words and looked from Max to Alec with a morose frown, "I didn't know what they were on about and they moved from the hallway right after that, so I didn't see or hear them anymore."

"What do you think she meant by _tubes_?" Max asked in a low tone of voice as she studied her leather-clad hands.

"Max, come on, we already know." Alec interjected harshly.

"I wanna hear it from _her_!" The woman snapped, and Casey cringed but decided it was best to just get on with her gruesome tale and get it over with as quickly as possible.

"They'd come in with these syringes full of _blood_," The teenager's throat filled up with bile as she choked out the word, "They'd inject us with them, tell us it was for our own good, that it was making us strong and superhuman." She sniffed back a sob and shook her head, "But this time when they came in, it was like they were…different."

"Different how?" Max prodded, and Casey shurgged

"It sounds crazy…well I mean it sounded totally whacko to me at the time, but…they were saying something to each other and asking if 'they felt it yet'." Casey's eyes lowered underneath eyelashes glittering with tears, "I didn't quite get it then but I do now. They were talking about Brac's blood. They thought it was making them stronger."

Casey heard Alec inhale sharply and exhale slowly, and she felt Max shift beside her as the woman stood up and began to pace slightly, arms crossed over her chest.

"Did you see Brac again after that?"

"No." Casey shook her head, "A couple hours later, he escaped somehow. I think from the beginning, Bren's people underestimated Brac and what he was capable of doing."

"Yeah well that's _most_ people's first mistake." Alec stated quietly.

"I don't know where he went off to." Casey rubbed her wrist and cast a fleeting, unsure glance in Logan's direction only to be reassured by a small smile. "They were scheming to get him back and looking for him everywhere for like a day before they bagged him again."

"He must've climbed through my window right after he escaped." Alec addressed his mate in a soft voice as he eyed the floor in a way that Casey couldn't fully interpret.

Max's lips tightened and the woman bent down to place a hand on Alec's broad shoulder and hold his gaze with concerned eyes.

"It wasn't your fault, Alec. Any of it."

"Tell that to Brac." He whispered back in a choked voice which suggested that a flood of emotions were threatening to overwhelm him.

"He'll be the one telling it to you once we're all together again, I promise." Max responded gently, and Casey watched as Alec reached up and squeezed the hand his partner was resting on his shoulder. Then his green eyes fell on Casey.

"Sorry."

"It's okay." She murmured.

"What happened after that?" Max patted Alec's arm before continuing to pace once more.

"Bren freaked out and made the whole gang hit the road asap." Casey snorted and rolled her eyes, "Woman's got so many screws loose I'm amazed her head doesn't rattle when she moves. Anyway, they herded us into trucks with boarded-up windows and next thing we know, we're in Wisconsin- 'cept that we didn't know it at the time."

"How was Brac holdin' up with all the moving?" Alec queried, eyebrows narrowing with concern, "How often were they taking blood from him?"

"Its impossible to say." Casey shook her head apologetically, "He was always in a separate room as far away from the rest of us as possible."

"How'd you get to see him then?"

Casey pressed her lips together. This was not going to be easy to get out. She'd try her best to cushion the impact that hearing about Brac's vicious escape attempts would undoubtedly have on his parents.

"Once they'd moved us to the depot," Casey looked up at Max with a raise of her eyebrows, "that's where they're holed up by the way – a massive container in an abandoned storage building by Lake Michigan."

Max nodded at the statement which confirmed Nyx's testimonial but made no further comment.

"Anyway, they kept us seven 'Ordinaries' in a basement room. At first Bren had them keep Brac in another of the basement rooms, but after the first day in Milwaukee, he tried to escape."

"How?" Max's voice was tense and it sounded as though the X5 sucked in her breath and held it after she uttered the question.

"Good old fashioned way." Casey shrugged despondently.

"Meaning what exactly?" Alec asked in a slighter rougher tone. Evidently Brac's parents had expected their son to do no less, but neither appeared happy about the risks Brac must've taken in the process.

"I just woke up in the night and heard some crashing noises." Casey waved a hand at the air, "They weren't very loud – I don't think I would've been able to hear them normally, but," She scoffed, "I'm not exactly _normal_ anymore."

"It'll wear off, Casey – you know that, right?" Logan spoke up for the first time as he eyed the girl from his position against the counter, and she nodded.

"Yeah the doctors said I should start getting the withdrawal symptoms sometime within the next 24 hours, but anyway." Casey didn't appear fazed by the concept, and Max, who had seen the aftermath of a blood addiction with her own eyes, made a silent note to ensure the Cale's afforded Casey as much help as was possible during her ordeal.

"Brac had somehow broken outta the restraints they had him strapped with and had been picking the lock on his door. I don't know how he managed it but some way he got it open." Casey rubbed her hands together and pursed his lips dismally, "He didn't get very far, The crashing noises were a fight between Brac and some of Bren's transgenic goons. They sedated him and locked him back up, made sure he was strapped tighter and added some extra locks to his door." She looked over as Alec pushed up from his chair and stood, "That's about it."

"How many times did he try it?" Alec queried, and Casey blew out a breath with a raise of her eyebrows.

"About seven times, I think?"

"You _think_, or you _know_?"

"Alec," Max cautioned.

"Max, we have to know what kinda state Brac's gonna be in when we find him or we'll be flyin' blind." He responded matter-of-factly, and Casey felt her heart skip a beat with hope.

Alec had said '_when_ we find him'… not '_if'_. The McDowell's were still clinging stubbornly to their son and apparently had _no_ intention of relinquishing their hold.

"I don't know for sure but I know that each time he did it, things got rougher." Casey understood now what the X5s wanted to know, and was relieved that she wasn't able to offer up the full spectrum of information in regards to every single punch or kick Brac had actually taken in his escape attempts.

"There were three times he almost made it – that is, three times he actually got out of the container and once he even made it to the lake." Casey's eyes fogged over with memory, "But after a while, Bren's gang got smart and locked Brac in this tiny little room underneath the staircase. I heard them installing all these extra locks and bolts and stuff to make sure he couldn't get out and then…"

"Could you recognize the locks for us if we showed you some pictures?" Alec's arms were crossed but he didn't appear imposing, and the stern edge to his voice didn't hold a candle to the unassuming tone that overshadowed it.

"Yes I could." Casey nodded and swallowed, casting a hesitant glance at the tall, blonde man who was leaning in the doorway of the kitchen. Zack's eyes were narrowed in intense concentration and seemed to bore holes through Casey as he took in every word that left her mouth.

"Uh…like two weeks after Wisconsin, Brac just got too weak to fight back." Casey felt the words sticking to her throat as she tried to force them out. Asha, Logan, Mac, Alec, and even the intimidating newcomer all seemed to be hanging on the girl's next statement.

The way their shoulders squared rigidly and they stopped breathing for a moment was putting Casey under an enormous amount of pressure.

But Casey was brave – it was the only reason Brac had trusted her at all, had expended the minimal reserves of energy he still possessed to create the necessary diversion.

"They were taking a lot of blood from him and he just couldn't keep trying to escape. So instead he went on hunger strike."

"Hunger strike?" Max repeated with a rising edge to her voice as her eyes widened and she looked at Alec.

"What exactly does that mean?" Her partner looked down at Casey with a deadly expression that the young girl instinctively felt was not for her but for his son.

"He um…he just stopped eating." Casey avoided the green and dark brown eyes that were simultaneously drilling holes in her defenses. "Refused to touch food or water for like a week straight. I don't know much about the details except that I would hear them outside Brac's room muttering to each other about how he was going to die if he didn't start eating soon. They yelled and threatened him – I think they were too scared to hit him though, in case he died or something."

"Damn it." Max whispered under her breath between grit teeth, and Alec's jaw clenched as Casey continued dubiously.

"Well for the past four days, Bren had him fed by tube or something, although Brac actually pulled it out with his teeth when they first inserted it."

"Oh of _course_ he did." Alec scoffed sarcastically with a raise of his eyebrows and brief, counterfeit grin before he turned and glared at the floor, "Stupid, stubborn, hard-headed little brat…"

"Alec! You're not helping." Asha lectured with a frown, and in return received a vicious scowl from her X5 friend that had caused hard-line villains to piss themselves – but left the mother-of-two unfazed.

"When the whole thing with Tarrant hit the headlines, everyone, the whole damn gang, went upstairs to watch the newsreel." Casey fidgeted in her seat and pushed off her blanket, suddenly feeling her cheeks flush up, "They never paid much attention to the locks on our door because no one except me and Brac had ever tried to get out."

"You also tried?" Max raised her eyebrows as Casey nodded, "Did you and Brac ever try to escape together or anything?"

"No," Casey scrunched up her nose, "We saw each other once or twice, but that was about it. Anyway they'd moved me to a different room because I wasn't doing what all the others were - which was pretending to swallow all the crap Bren was shoving down our throats about the future of our nation and blah, blah, blah.."

"Sounds like someone's a few fries short of a Happy Meal." Max looked up at Alec and her mate shrugged, keeping his eyes focused on Casey who was now clutching the edges of her seat in a worrying manner.

"Oh trust me, Bren? That woman's just the freaking cut-and-paste McDonald's box – she vaped out the burger, fries and everything else a _very_ long time ago."

"So yesterday you busted out," Alec returned to conversation to his son once more, evidently noticing the change in Casey and realizing that soon she would be in throes of withdrawal and in need of rest. "Mind tellin' us how that all went down?"

"I picked the lock on my door." Casey's eyes were shut now and her breath was coming in shorter, shallower inhales, "I wanted to free the others but I didn't have time to do that and get Brac out as well."

"Why Brac specifically?" Max placed a hand lightly on the girl's shoulder and nodded to Logan in concern.

"Oh it was just in case there was some kind of reward on offer!" Casey glanced up at Max with angry eyes "He was sick and on the verge of starvation, and most _definitely_ gonna die if they took any more blood from him!"

Max swallowed and went quiet at the fuming flare from the teenage girl, who had obviously been torn between her loyalty to her friends and her concern for a relatively total stranger. Casey Trendon was young but she wasn't stupid – and apparently, unlike most other girls her age, didn't use her turbulent adolescent emotions as a rudder when it came to tough decisions.

"Most of the locks on Brac's door were bolts, but I picked the ones that weren't without too much problem." Casey continued in a strained voice, "Brac was strapped down to this trundle bed on the floor, all hooked up to this IV." She stopped and winced as a bead of sweat trickled down her forehead, "I don't wanna keep going."

"Stay with us here, Casey, come on." Alec urged strongly, and she forced her eyes to open.

"I took out his tube and untied him but his wrists were still open underneath the bandages and I think everything was just too much for him." Casey's eyes filled with tears as she spoke, "Brac tried to get up with me, but his body wouldn't let him."

"Severe loss of blood of that magnitude," Zack commented tersely, speaking up for the first time since Casey had begun her story, "His body probably didn't even know that it was conscious."

"Oh well thank you, Captain Obvious!" Alec snapped with hardness in his green eyes that did little to mask the man's poorly-bridled anxiety.

"Shut up, both of you - I mean it." Max spoke without her usual bark, but the quiet, no-nonsense tone was even deadlier.

Zack and Alec both graced her with rigid stares before looking away, Zack with a huff and Alec with a sigh.

"Oh god…" Casey clutching her head and gasping for air pulled Logan and Max to her side instantly. "It burns…"

"Ash, get someone on the line for this kid, would you?" Logan helped Max ease Casey's filthy cardigan off her shoulders and picked her up off the chair, "Someone move that stuff off the sofa in the living room!"

"I got it." Alec and Zack said at the same time and then glared caustically at each other.

"I'll go make that phone call." Asha retreated gratefully from the angst-ridden scene as the group moved into the living room. Zack and Alec cleared the sofa of its various clutter as Logan and Max placed a trembling Casey on the cool leather.

"Max, I…" Casey began only to have a comforting hand stroke her head as Max stood over her.

"It's okay. Just take it easy."

"He said all I had to do was get to you guys," Casey almost yelled the words in an effort to stave off the shakes that were assaulting her, "Just said 'find my parents, go to T.C and tell my parents, they'll take care of everything!'"

"Brac was right," Max soothed the troubled girl as she looked down at her with sad eyes, "We're gonna get everybody outta there. Everything's gonna be okay again, don't worry."

Casey nodded tightly as her eyes squeezed shut and her hand clasped around Max's tightly, "I have to give you something! It was Brac's - it fell off one time when he was trying to get out…" She gave Max's hand a final squeeze before releasing it. "He would have wanted you to see it…."

Max looked down at the object Casey had pressed into her hand. It was a thick twine of brown leather braided into a wristband with vintage frayed edges.

Max felt a torrent of emotions rush through her as images of her son flashed through her mind like a slideshow on fast-forward. Brac's first step, the first tooth he ever cut, the way he'd always used his teddy as a sparring partner instead of a cuddle toy…

Alec's soft inhale as he stood behind his mate caused Max to look up and turn to face him. At the sight of Brac's wristband, Alec's eyes took on a faraway look akin to Max's as he shared in her remembrances.

Brac's first kick-flip with a skateboard he'd found discarded outside TC Central, the time he'd climbed into bed with Nyx because his little sister was still afraid of thunderstorms but was too proud to let her parents know it…

Max blinked back her tears as she looked up to find Alec gazing at her knowingly, determinedly.

"We're gonna find him, Maxie."

"I know we are." She whispered softly.


	15. Chapter 15

"You guys?" Asha reappeared in the doorway, still clutching a phone but looking as though she'd give anything to toss the device at whatever was perpetrating the sudden onslaught of grief for her friends.

"Doc on her way?" Logan queried from where he was kneeling beside Casey's trembling frame on the sofa.

"Yeah and it's a good thing we called her in." Asha stepped closer to Max and threw Zack a quick glance before turning back to her friend, "You guys need to come upstairs. Something's definitely wrong with Nyx."

"What?" Max and Alec were hastening up the staircase in a flash, tailing Asha, who was already heading to the master bedroom.

"She's running a nasty temp, but what's got me on edge is her breathing!" Asha explained as they reached the top landing of the stairs, "It's sounding _way_ too labored to not be affecting her lungs."

"Max, I thought you said Johnston gave her the all-clear!" Alec turned to cast his mate a piercing gaze which Max rebuffed with a stony narrowing of one eyebrow.

"He did, Alec, alright? I dunno what's going on…" Max froze in her tracks as Asha pushed open the door to the master bedroom and the three adults caught sight of Nyx's graceful leap from the window onto the ledge above the front door.

"What the hell?" Alec's roar thundered out in time with Max's "Nyx!"

The X5s didn't stick with the conventional first reaction of leaning over to peer out of the window – and Asha was not at all surprised. Instead Max and Alec tore down the staircase, the latter brushing shoulders with Zack so roughly that he almost threw the man off-balance. Max was rushing through the front door already, pausing for only a split-second to locate the dark figure tearing down the road at breakneck speed. Max's eyes widened and she took off after Nyx's retreating frame as her daughter disappeared around the block.

Alec reached the front door's threshold just in time to catch sight of Max's marathon sprint. He narrowed his eyes and zoomed his vision to scan the surroundings before launching into a tenacious dash of his own, making for the back of the apartment block around which his mate had just vanished.

Max eased to a halt just outside the patch of shadow into which she was certain she had just seen Nyx melt. Clenching her teeth under a pair of closed lips, Max inched forward silently, stepping backwards and hugging the shadows herself - effectively creating a stand-off. If Nyx was aware of her mother's presence in the narrow alleyway, she would have two choices; remain where she was (and risk Max jumping her in the shadows) or make a run for it (which would expose her position, and Nyx knew she didn't stand a _chance_ at outrunning either of her parents).

Max held her breath and waited. Sure enough, several agonizing moments later, Nyx appeared from behind a pile of crates, crouched low and head darting cautiously from side to side. The young girl so mirrored her mother that Max would have laughed had she found the situation _anything_ but amusing.

Nyx had just broken into a run before she was grabbed from behind and tossed, none-too-gently, onto the tarmac. Instantly Max was bending over her, hands resting on her knees and eyes blaring out the promise of a not-so-quick-and-painless death.

"Mom…" Nyx began.

"Mind tellin' me what the _hell's_ going on in that head of yours, Nyx McDowell?" Max yelled, and her daughter's face locked into stubbornness as Nyx rolled her eyes and looked away.

"No, you will _look_ at me when I'm talking to you and you will give me a damn good answer right about _now_!" Max snapped, reaching out and turning Nyx's chin to face her. She was taken aback by the stony, red-hot obstinacy in the girl's eyes.

Max had seen that not-gonna-budge expression before, but never on Nyx. It was like having a stare-down with Brac.

"Nyx what are you doing?" Max repeated, her tone switching from angry to worried as she crouched down in front of her daughter.

"What I _have_ to!" Nyx snapped back as she sat up on her palms and glared at Max.

Okay, that did not sound good. _Nyx, what have you done?_ Max sighed as her eyebrows titled up in concern, "I know you wanna help, baby, but you're sick. Your dad and I need you to lay low on this one, okay?"

"No it's _not_ okay! You don't understand!" Nyx shuffled to her feet and stepped back a good full meter as Max followed suit, "I started something. I have to finish it! If you get in the way, you're just gonna get me killed!"

"You need to clue me in here, Nyxie." Max insisted, taking a cautious step forward as her daughter glanced behind her desperately.

"What's going on?" Max repeated the question, and Nyx eyed the rusty fire escape ladder creeping up the brick wall to her right.

"You so much as _think_ about it, and I swear to god," Alec's voice behind Nyx made the girl jump and she backed against the wall at the angry and incredulous expression on her father's face.

"You don't know what you're doing!" Nyx pleaded, voice ringing with sincere alarm that immediately caught both Max and Alec's attention, "I made this deal with somebody so they would get me in to see Tarrant and I have to…"

"Who?" Alec was already cracking down ruthlessly with the questions as he pinned Nyx with a hard glare.

"Just a lady, alright?" Nyx insisted, voice catching on a rasping gasp as she let out a cough and then sank to her haunches on the dewy concrete.

"What sorta deal exactly?" Max pressed as Alec crouched down next to Nyx but didn't soften the steel in his narrowed eyes.

"She got me the papers and the drugs and said she would make sure I got in to see Tarrant." Nyx's dark eyes were darting from the ground to Alec's jacket, Max's knees and back down again, "And she didn't want any money or anything – just wanted me to help her test something."

"What?" Alec's eyebrows scrunched up in angry disbelief, "Nyx, _please_ tell me you didn't!"

"Look she's just a scientist, okay?" Nyx yelled out heatedly as she scooted further back against the wall, "She was trying to work on special medication for transgenics…"

"So you volunteered to be her _guinea pig_?!" Max couldn't believe what she was hearing as she stood over her daughter with flaming eyes.

"Her _what_?" Nyx scrunched up her nose in confusion.

"You let her pump you full of experimental drugs?" Alec snapped, and the girl sighed and nodded as she stared at her lap.

"Why?" Alec's tone held utter bewilderment mingled frustration (and the dreaded disappointment), and Nyx ground her jaw before finally forcing out her answer.

"I already told you why. She said she could get me a clean shot at Tarrant."

"And you believed her?" Max demanded with a twisting nausea wrenching at her gut at the idea of what exactly 'special medication for transgenics' might entail.

"Well I got in to see Tarrant, didn't I?" Nyx rolled her eyes, "It was something I had to do…"

"That was _not_ 'something you had to do' Nyx!" Alec reminded his daughter with a dangerous narrowing of his eyes that implied major trouble, "Casey already told us everything we need to know about Brac and his situation…"

"No she didn't, Dad!" Nyx yelled, "She _didn't_ tell you what this Bren bitch's plans were, she _couldn't_ have told you where they're gonna be moving next, because she didn't _know_, okay?!"

Max and Alex exchanged an expression before they glanced back at their daughter, who was glaring at Alec with wide, stubborn eyes and a tight jaw.

"I _do_ though! And I'm sorry if I had to find it out the hard way, but it had to be done, okay?"

Max sighed heavily and cast a sidelong look down at Alec, hoping he would have at least _some_ vague idea of what on earth to do. In all their years of fostering an international 'league of extraordinary gentlemen' and raising a family of their own, _nothing_ had prepared Max and Alec for a situation of this intricate nature.

The indolent rasp of Nyx's breathing commanded their attention, but Nyx waved away the hand that Alec reached out to her shoulder.

"I'm fine. Just …don't touch me."

"What's the matter with your breathing?" He almost growled out the question as Nyx's chest heaved and her nostrils flared in an effort to inhale oxygen.

"I dunno, I…think something musta gone wrong with the one o' the drugs she was testing out…"

"No shit." Max knelt down beside Nyx and threw Alec a truly frightened expression, "Which drug exactly?"

"Um well it was treatment for a respiratory disease…" Nyx rubbed her forehead and squinted, "Uh…COPD I think it was."

"Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder," Alec sucked in his breath after the words and tightened his lips as he held Max's eyes. COPD - a severe disease of the respiratory tract that comprised three conditions: chronic bronchitis, small-airways disease and emphysema.

Neither of the three was under the X5s' category of 'inevitable childhood diseases'.

"Yeah well I had to be infected with something first in order for the treatment to work." Nyx was wheezing slightly but seemed to be in better control of her breathing now (to her parents' chronic relief).

"What did you get?" Alec demanded in a low, almost quivering voice.

"She wasn't so hot with the specs….think it was something to do with constricting of air-passages, you know like asthma or somethin'." Nyx shook her head and studied her hands, "But anyway, I was taking this gas medication with her for like a week and it's supposed to be working. Well, she says it is anyway, and I do feel a whole lot better after I have it…"

"What's the name?" Max queried and Nyx shook her head blankly.

"I dunno."

"Nyx, you gotta work with us here." Alec interjected in an insistent tone of voice that commanded instant compliance. "Are the words 'recombinant proteins' ringin' any bells?"

"Yeah sounds like what the gas was about." Nyx fiddled with the draw strings on her sweater and then threw back her head in frustration. "Look, its no big deal, alright? Just get me to a hospital and we can…"

"You've _been_ to the hospital, Nyx!" Alec pointed out strongly, "Alright? The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with you except for some bruises and bumps!"

"He didn't check me properly." Nyx whispered in a small tone of voice and a shameful lowering of her eyes that reduced the eleven year-old by about five good years.

"What?" Both Max and Alec were now fully roused to pissed-off-parental mode as the former reached out and took hold of Nyx's shoulder.

"What are you talking about? I was there! He did a full-scope check on your breathing…"

"No he didn't. I uh…told him not to." Nyx was squirming under the angry, anxious eyes of her parents now.

"Whaddya mean, you 'told him not to'?" Alec was fuming.

"Well I wasn't exactly eager for you to find out, now was I?" Nyx snapped, turning to throw Alec a stubborn glare only to wince at the pure rage emanating from the man.

"Oh come on, Nyx! Why would we be upset, huh? I mean you only lied to us about a potentially life-threatening disease you _intentionally_ contracted, plus spent two freaking weeks runnin' AWOL right under our noses…"

"Mom knew about it; I told her at the hospital!" Nyx whined in desperation, and Max shook her head as Alec's green eyes shot up to meet hers in disbelief.

"No, she told me another lie! I didn't know about this!"

"It wasn't a lie! Tarrant worked me over!" Nyx was on the verge of tears by now, but Alec and Max were suddenly preoccupied by each other.

"He what?! Max, when in god's name were you gonna tell me?"

"She wouldn't spill about it unless I promised not to! You wanna tell me just what the hell else I was supposed to do?"

"Look it's nobody's fault, okay you guys?" Nyx yelled above the rising tide of her parents' arguing, "The point is that I have to go and get my dose or I'm probably gonna start choking up! So do you wanna come with me or not?"

Alec and Max exchanged a tight glance of confirmation before the latter turned and reached out and grabbed Nyx's arm.

"We're going together. Come on."

"Okay but you guys have to promise not to do anything crazy!" Nyx stood up and straightened her sweater as her breath fogged the air in front of her with short puffs.

"Excuse me?" Alec snapped menacingly as he straightened to his full height and the three began to make their way out of the alleyway.

"Just say you won't beat her up or anything like that." Nyx minced her words more carefully, pausing to throw Max a pleading pout. "Just cuz I know you guys and…and she's actually a really nice person cuz she helped me find Brac!"

"Wait, you 'know us guys'? Just what the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?" Max crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

Nyx shrugged and sniffed, her skin looking paler though the edges of her ears and the tip of nose were tinged pink from the cold, "Just don't muscle her around, please? It was all my idea, not hers."

Alec scoffed and Max rolled her eyes.

"What? You don't think I could've come up with all this stuff on my own?" Nyx demanded indignantly, and Alec squinted at the distance and tucked his hands in his pockets.

"Not all of it, baby girl. You're smart, don't get me wrong." He raised his eyebrows as he returned his gaze to Nyx, "But you're not that smart - not yet."

Nyx rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath – it seemed to be the young girl's token reaction to anything she didn't agree with recently.

"So what was your grand getaway scheme this time exactly?" Alec nodded at Max and she bit her lip and pulled out her phone, hitting the speed-dial and walking a ways off to pass on the news to the Cales'.

"Didn't have one." Nyx mumbled as she wrapped her arms around herself and shuffled her boots back and forth, "She's only like three miles away so I figured I'd just catch the bus or something."

"I'm trying to understand this, Nyx." Alec confessed in a tone which suggested he was more disappointed and worried then irate now, as he lowered his head to Nyx's eye level, "You've been sneaking out of TC for _how_ long now?"

"Two weeks." Nyx replied softly, avoiding Alec's gaze under the shelter of her long, dark eyelashes.

"And you didn't think it was strange this woman, whoever she is, was askin' a kid to test out for experimental drugs?" Alec persisted, and Nyx shrugged after a moment of chagrined silence.

"I kinda figured…the whole thing was shady anyway. Besides it was too late to pull out."

"You didn't think of coming to us about it at any point in time?" Alec sighed at Nyx's pointed snort of response and cupped her chin in his hands, tilting her face up to meet his own.

"Nyx? Why didn't you just tell us what was happening? We would've taken care of it for you – we always do, don't we?"

"I know, it's just…" Nyx's eyes were brimming with contrite tears now as she took in the gentle, wounded glow now flickering in the furnace of Alec's deep green eyes. "I was scared that I might die or something."

"So instead of telling us the truth and givin' us what we need to know to help you, you _lie_ to us? How does that make sense?" Alec demanded as his eyes sharpened slightly.

"I…" Nyx held Alec's gaze for a moment before she closed her eyes and blew out a breath of defeat, "It doesn't."

Alec nodded with a purse of his lips as the sound of Max's footsteps coming round the corner came into earshot, "You know we're not gonna be able to just let this one go, right?"

Nyx nodded at the floor dismally and a quiet sniff erupted from underneath her tangled brown hair, "I'm not sorry though."

Alec sighed at that statement and didn't respond. Instead he moved to acknowledge Max's presence as she came back into sight.

"Okay, I talked to Logan. He's gonna try and cover for us with Zack." Max huffed as Alec raised his eyebrows in surprise, "I told him we wanted to handle this one on our own. Unless you want me to call Zack and tell him to come along?"

"Uh no we're real good here." Alec nudged Nyx for support, but his daughter kept her gaze fixed firmly on the ground and her hands clutching her biceps.

"Can we go now?" Nyx asked softly, "She's expecting me at nine."

"Sure. Let's split." Max noticed the shift in Nyx's demeanor from stubborn and unyielding to forlorn and abashed. Nyx and Alec had obviously had a one-on-one of some sort while Max had been on the phone, and it seemed the man had managed to impress on their daughter the severity of the situation.

Max just hoped Alec had been able to turn the tide of the unapologetic undercurrent flowing strong in Nyx just then. Or else they were all in for a long, messy - and exceptionally dangerous - ride.


	16. Chapter 16

The bus ride in the frosty December sunlight was an uncomfortable one, to say the least. The three transgenics sat close together atop the sparsely-peopled, double decker bus, with Nyx sandwiched between her parents – both of whom were intent on extracting as much information from their daughter as possible (especially Alec).

In-depth questioning regarding Nyx's 'contact' revealed that the woman had a base of operations not far from the Cales' home. For convenience's sake however, she and Nyx had been meeting at a flat near Seattle's Space Needle on 200 6th Street.

"How'd you arrange to meet up this morning?" Max queried, and Nyx sniffed and scratched the base of her nose.

"I called her from a payphone right before I went in to see Tarrant. She said if everything went okay that I was supposed to call her again at 6 AM and meet her at the flat." Nyx squinted at a bright ray of sunlight streaking in from the upper-story window, "If I didn't call at six, we'd be meeting at her other place."

"Got the address?" Max raised her eyebrows and Nyx sighed but reached into her pocket and handed her mother a crumpled piece of paper.

"It's only like three miles off from the Cales' place. I've never been there before," Nyx waved a hand in front of her, "but the directions she gave me were really clear, so…"

"Lemme see that?" Alec nodded at the paper in Max's hand, and she reached across Nyx to oblige him with a scrunch of her nose.

"You know this place, Alec – you're not gonna like it."

"What?" The X5 male glanced at the address etched out in Nyx's petite scrawl and instantly crinkled his face into a mirror of Max's. "You gotta be kidding me!"

"Apparently our lil lab rat friend doesn't have much goin' for her in the way of funding." Max stated with a tight smile and raise of her eyebrows which suggested she was anything but pleased.

"Where exactly did you hook up with this klutz of a 'scientist' in the first place, Nyxie?" Alec threw his daughter one of his trademark frowns of disapproval that never failed to reduce Brac and Nyx to five year-old cookie thieves.

"Um, well I kinda had her number from before," Nyx was squirming now and averting her gaze, "and she always said if I ever needed help to give her a ring."

"You had it from before?" Alec raised his eyebrows and threw Max a quick look, "Have we met this person before, Nyx? I mean, is she a transgenic, is she a…"

"Can we _please_ not play the guessing game here, people? I would have told you if I'd wanted you to know!" Nyx whined in frustration which brought into clear light the fact that she was desperately trying to hide something.

"Yeah well that isn't really how it works, is it, Nyxie?" Max responded with a stern glower for the girl as she leant over and hit the 'stop' button on the bus bar.

Nyx rolled her eyes and stood, stepping over Alec's knees and into the aisle as the bus ground to a halt. Alec and Max followed suit as the three made their way down the stairs.

"You gonna tell us if she's somebody we know?" Max continued in a stronger tone as Nyx persisted in ignoring her, "Cuz if we have to find out the hard way, I foresee a lotta fists flyin' around!"

"Nyx, your mom talkin' to you. Get your head outta the sand and answer her." Alec's command had Nyx finally growling out a response as the three stepped off the bus and headed through a crowded, run-down street.

"Okay so maybe you met her, but it doesn't mean you know her, alright?" Nyx was rubbing her hands together and her breath was puffing out in front of her in sparser clouds.

"So what _does_ it mean then?" Max's face remained set impassively, but the woman's step altered to keep time with her daughter's.

"Just that…look, you'll find out for yourselves in like five minutes anyway!" Nyx's nostrils were flaring now and the evident strain that breathing was causing her had Alec steering the girls over to a large stall a slight ways off the main road.

"We'd rather hear it from _you_, Nyx." Max confessed, and then raised an eyebrow at Alec, "What are we doin' here?"

"Uh Yangs' is a natural remedy place I used to do business with." Alec sniffed and appraised the stocky, Chinese vendor behind the wooden stall, "They make all kinds o' herbal medicines and crap like that. Figured Nyxie could do with a little dose of the good stuff right about now."

"Lemme think about that one, Alec." Max narrowed her eyes and her mate could tell a sardonic remark was forthcoming, "A 'natural remedy' company that _you_ 'used to do business with'…"

"Max," Alec rolled his eyes wearily, but she continued.

"Yeah, you know what, Alec? I've thought about it; answer's no! Come on, we're leaving."

"_You_ come on, Max!" Alec snapped in reply, and the two X5s proceeded to have a heated debate about the reliability of the company (which, as with most couple's disputes, morphed quickly into an argument regarding standards, questionable extra-curricular activities and a lot of personal axe-grinding).

"I swear, if you guys don't stop with the arguing," Nyx, high-strung to the point of explosion, had finally menaced, "I'll drink the whole darn bottle in one go!"

"You're gonna want to go easy on the threats, kid, unless you want a whole new world o' problems." Alec had warned with an intimidating raise of his eyebrows, but he and Max had reached a compromise shortly thereafter. The family of transgenics had left with a bottle of herbal remedy which Nyx had smelt and declared to be vile (it didn't help matters much that the label and ingredients were in Mandarin – a language only Alec spoke fluently and Max could just about bluff through the basics).

After Alec had finally given in and translated the entire label for Nyx and Max's benefit, the former took a swig of the medicine (with more then just a grimace). Ten minutes after they had stepped off the bus, Max, Alec and Nyx found themselves traipsing down a filthy side alleyway lined with peeling, tacky doors.

"I swear this place still gives me the creeps even after fourteen years." Max muttered with a shiver of disgust as she stepped over rotting garbage (and a sleeping drunk). "Jam Pony would get runs here like every other day – in the end we just started drawing lots cuz no-one wanted to be a hundred yards off o' it."

"Yeah I remember." Alec raised his eyebrows in disdain at his surroundings, though his eyes kept a steady pin on Nyx, who was leading the way determinedly, "I was unfortunate enough to get three packages for this trash dump in one afternoon. Normal just thought he'd do me a favour and gimme a lil'" He raked quotation fingers in the air, "'head's up' on some sleezy hooker he knew lived round this joint."

"Normal and his interesting taste in women." Max snorted and then glanced up at Alec in mortification, "_Please_ tell me you didn't!"

"Uh yeah that'd be a definite _no_." Alec replied with a surly frown as if he were insulted his mate would even suggest such a thing, "Normal could keep his skanky hoes as far as I was concerned. The ones I shacked up with were always more like…" He waved a hand at the air, "courtesans."

"Know what?" Max scrunched up her nose and batted Alec's hand away as he ruffled her hair, only to grip said hand tightly as Alec draped it around her shoulders, "You're an idiot!"

"You tell me every day, sweetie." Alec replied with a smirk as he dipped his head and dropped a quick kiss on Max's hair.

"This is it, you guys." Nyx's anxious statement interrupted the X5 couple's own private version of a romantic moment. The young girl had stopped outside a drab wooden door with a blotchy number stamped onto the cracking paint.

"She lives on the second floor, so we should probably ring the bell." Nyx raised a questioning eyebrow at her parents, both of whom graced her with their individual 'yeah right' smirks.

"How about you let us handle this one, huh?" Alec had already pulled out his pick tool and was moving to the lock. Nyx stepped in front of her father with a pleading flare in her dark brown eyes (that Brac had often labelled 'Nyxie's Puss-In-Boots stare').

"Just promise me you won't hit her!" Nyx pulled in her lips, evidently aware of the fact she was in _no_ position to make demands just then, but desperate enough to beg. "Please?"

"You know what? If you're so afraid of our reactions, then why don't you just tell us who she is and give us a heads-up?" Max studied Nyx intently as Alec made short work of the lock.

Nyx's eyes lowered and her lips pursed in silent denial that sent a sigh through Max's own.

"Fine. Then don't ask us to promise." With those words, Max brushed past her daughter and into the dingy apartment building. Nyx followed glumly on her tail and Alec took up the rear as the three made their way up a flight of stairs.

A slightly more presentable-looking door and a tacky intercom greeted Max at the first landing. She nodded and moved aside as Alec bent down and worked the lock.

Nyx had actually begun to cry now, Max noticed in complete, befuddled alarm – slow, quiet tears that didn't give way to sobs. The girl cast darting glances from Alec to Max and reached up to wipe her face quickly as the latter threw her a concerned, questioning look.

Max sighed tightly but didn't press the issue further as the three moved silently into the flat, their eyes meeting with a polished front room in which every inch of counter space was covered with a blanket of papers and paraphernalia.

Alec raised his eyebrows at his mate as the sound of footsteps echoed in the small hallway leading to whatever other quarters the tiny apartment held. Nyx had curled up on the coffee leather sofa and was hugging a couch cushion, obviously anticipating a blow-up of notable magnitude.

Neither Max, nor Alec, nor the young woman who had just entered the front room was prepared for what met their eyes.

Max's breath caught on a gasp as her eyes widened in recognition. Alec's eyes narrowed in incredulous emerald slits. The woman's soft brown eyes hardened instantly and her bottom lip dropped a good two inches.

It was Max who broke the momentary silence.

"Linda Sandburg?!"


	17. Chapter 17

"What the hell are you doing here?" Linda seemed anything but intimidated and the strikingly beautiful woman cast Nyx a fierce glare, "I told you _never_ to let on to them – deal's off!"

"Kinda took the words right outta my mouth!" Max stated angrily, stepping forward with her fists balled by her hips as Linda's hand strayed to a drawer. "I'd think twice about pulling out a gun if I were you." Max raised her eyebrows as Linda slid the drawer open, eyes still trained on the X5s in her front room.

"Or you could come in packing," Max shrugged, "and ruin whatever slim chance we all still have of sorting this problem out like civilized human beings."

"I'd say the two of you hardly come under that category, wouldn't you?" Linda replied coolly as she pulled a .45 out of the drawer but didn't raise it in aim.

"Yeah well you know - flawless genes, duplicated muscle power, lightening reflexes, ridiculous good looks," Alec shrugged with a dry smirk, "I'm kinda cool with givin' the 'human being' part a miss."

"What do you want from me?" Linda ignored the wisecrack with a stony expression as her hand gripped tighter around the handgun

"A _really_ detailed rundown on what the fuck you think you're doin' with our kids, for starters." Alec responded in a tone that had gone cold and matched the narrowing of his eyes perfectly. He took a seat on the sofa beside Nyx and rested his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together and raising his eyebrows at Linda with a purse of his lips.

Linda's own, full lips coiled in displeasure at the action, but the woman seemed to feel that the situation warranted caution (Linda was evidently aware that her gun would do little to defend her if Max and Alec decided to attack in unison). To her credit, the copper-haired scientist swallowed back her rage and sat on the desk behind her.

"My neighbors know that all my regular clientele have the courtesy to ring the bell." Linda opened negotiations with a sharp statement as she fingered the gun in her hand and held Max's gaze, "They'll have called the police by now."

"Oh that's handy, isn't it?" Max crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at Alec, "Let's just hope you give us _one_ good reason not to string you up with that long, pretty hair of yours and leave you in a pile of evidence for the cops once they make it over here."

"I don't think you're in _any_ position to be threatening me, Mrs. McDowell." Linda's eyes were resolute and unafraid as she shifted to get comfortable on the oak table that was strewn with paperwork.

"It's _Guevara_, and how do you figure that?" An additional ring of bite came into Max's tone as she maintained eye contact with the woman across from her.

"My mistake." Linda smiled sardonically as she eased her tightly muscled arms out of her black, woolen cardigan. Alec's jaw clenched rigidly as the X5 caught sight of a smattering of scars raking Linda's arms, neck and chest – tangible reminders of the inner scars his son still carried despite his physical recovery.

"I may have misjudged you, Nyx." Linda was raising a haughty eyebrow at the young girl as she adjusted a wrinkle in her striking red tank with one hand, and kept a tight grip on her gun with other, "Clearly it seems you haven't told your parents _everything_ I shared with you in confidence."

"Let's keep this conversation between the _over_-eighteens for now, if that's alright with you." Alec quipped sarcastically with a deadly glower that overshadowed the smirk on his face, "I mean unless that would just bite too much – we all know how you _love_ a fresh lil' minor."

"Brac was definitely a better lay then any _man_ I've ever slept with." Linda retorted, unfazed, "Though to be honest, it was more like taming an animal then fucking a human."

"Say that again, bitch?" Alec requested with silicone politeness, but the whitening of his fists as they curled against each other suggested Alec was about an inch off from tossing chivalry into the trash bin.

"What are you going to do?" Linda raised an eyebrow with a sneer, "You're not going to hit me, are you, 494? I was given the impression that your self-restraint was stronger then your son's…"

"I'm gonna say this _once_," Alec had risen to his feet and the dangerous quiet in his voice matched the impassive glare on Max's face, "the only time _my son's_ name is ever comin' outta your mouth is when you're spilling information. Other then that, you keep your trap shut about Brac, you understand me?"

"Oh is our mutual acquaintance a touchy subject?" Linda flashed the transgenics a pearl-toothed smile as she pushed off the desk, "In that case, we'd better avoid it altogether. Because that's what you two do best, isn't it – run away from problems?"

"Listen," Max forced out the word between gritted teeth as she stepped forward, narrowing the distance between her and Linda by a significant few feet, "I get that you're a walking vacuum for patience and understanding, but right now we're kinda running short on both! So either you cough up whatever we wanna know, and I mean _everything_…"

"Or what?" Linda nodded her chin in Max's direction assertively, "You'll…kick my ass? Break my neck? Hand me over to the feds?" She shook her head coolly, "You know, these threats aren't really working for me."

"Yeah well see, I know what _would_," Max responded acidly, "But I'm fresh out o' grade-schoolers for you!"

"Enough!" Nyx called out pleadingly, but the argument was stagnated by the ringing of a telephone. Linda eyed the object which was in its stand beside Alec, but the X5 just glared at her.

"Let it ring. Or are you expecting an important call?"

Linda threw him a tight-lipped expression and didn't respond. Alec raised an eyebrow at the phone as the machine switched to voice mail with a shrill beep.

"Hello, Sandburg." A blasé female voice mono-toned, "You know, if I were you, I'd start picking up your phone. I've always been the pursued instead of the pursuer. If you want your cut, be at the following address tomorrow morning…"

Alec's eyebrows gathered into a knot and he fumbled hastily for a pen, but Max was already jotting the address down on a random slip of paper as the woman spelled it out.

"Oh and Linda?" The caller chortled softly before continuing, "You were right. He really _is_ special."

The call couldn't have terminated fast enough for Max, Alec or Nyx. All three of them exploded into varying supernovas of anger. Max's hands were on Linda's throat and pinning her flat on her back against the desk. Alec was hovering behind Max, the pure rage on his face making his strong desire to pummel Linda himself fully known. Nyx was rifling through the papers strewn around the room frantically, every now and then pausing to glance up at Linda in utter disbelief and betrayal.

"You're in on the damn game! I should've known it all the time!" Max hissed as she collared Linda, and the woman gripped her fists tightly and raised her head to glower at Max.

"I'm not! I'm trying to _help_ him!"

"Oh how exactly are you doin' that? I'm real damn itchy for the details!" Alec barked, and Linda's face set into a tight wall of determination.

"I've been doing medical work for the team of transgenics who've got your son." Linda held Max's squinting eyes with her own steel brown ones.

"What sort of medical work?" Max demanded, her grip on Linda's collar tightening. If the bitch was making things any worse for Brac then they already were, she was dead meat.

"Mainly blood tests." Linda explained, and Alec had to give the woman some credit – she was surprisingly calm about the whole situation. "So far they've just given me samples of the kidnapped teenagers' blood for progress analysis, but since Brac got taken, it's been all about him."

"What do you mean?" Max questioned strongly.

"They gave me a blood sample and told me to analyze it for any special qualities or defects. When the results showed Brac's blood to be literally throbbing with perfection in medical terms at least, they asked me to try and find some way to duplicate it."

"That's crazy. You can't duplicate blood." Alec snapped and Linda threw the man a 'no, really?' deadpan scowl.

"Yeah well this woman who's holding Brac is crazy, so what can I tell you?"

"You said you're trying to help him." Max loosened her hold on Linda's tank top but kept her dangerous stare on full power.

Linda nodded, "I've been trying to pin down something solid on Tarrant for a long time now since I suspected his involvement."

"Why?" Alec queried with a narrowing of his eyes.

"Different reasons," was as much of a response as Linda was willing to give, "But when you got him arrested, I was really hoping to see somebody muscle a confession out of the sorry ass."

"Ah, so you figured 'hey, what about Brac's eleven year old sister? She'd make a great interrogator!'" Alec quipped angrily and Linda rolled her eyes.

"It was Nyx's original idea. I just helped her with the details."

"Yeah so she tells us." Max glanced over her shoulder to see Nyx standing a ways off and watching the exchange with wide, cautious eyes. "Mind tellin' us what really went down? We'd ask Nyxie, but I don't think we'd get a clean freaking answer from the kid."

"What makes you think I'd tell you?" Linda challenged quietly.

Alec dipped his head in a shrug, "Well if you don't own up a truth, you gotta go with a dare," His face darkened along with his tone, "and I _dare_ you to goddamn push your freaking luck."

The scientist sighed derisively and then raised an eyebrow at Max. The latter rolled her eyes and grudgingly released the woman, leaning back to cross her arms over her chest.

"Make one wrong move and…"

"I'm not here to waste time arguing while that maniac of an X-series drains Brac dead." Linda snapped as she turned away from Alec and Max, "We're already almost out of time as it is."

"What do you mean?" Alec dipped his head but his eyes remained trained on Linda.

Her well-toned shoulders lifted and then dropped, "Bren's likely going to uproot the gang once she realizes Tarrant's dropped the information. They won't leave a trail – not even _you'll_ be able to track them down."

"Nyx said you knew where this Bren would be movin' to next." Max responded in a quiet tone which rang with hope as she shifted a quick glance at her daughter.

"Bren calls me every second week to tell me where I can pick up my paycheck." Linda folded her arms and turned to face Max and Alec once more, "That last phone call was her giving me the address for the next pay-off."

"Is it in person, or…?" Alec raised his eyebrows, and Linda nodded.

"Yes, but never Bren. That woman considers herself far too _integral_ to the twisted success of her take-over scheme."

"Take-over scheme?" Max queried in an 'oh _please_ be kidding me' tone of voice as she squinted at the Ordinary.

"Yup. It's part and parcel of the Transgenic Global Dominion idea – now _that_ one has really grown wings to fly!" Linda was rolling her eyes as she stalked towards the gritty window of her flat and shook her head. "Woman has this idea to swell Manticore's offspring with 'extraordinary ordinaries'." She squinted at nothing in particular and snorted wryly, "Wants to take over the United States and creep her fingers out from there."

"Wouldn't be the first time some Psy-Ops reject's tried to mess things up for everybody." Max looked over at Alec, who was pursing his lips in taut, irritated agreement.

"Yeah well the Mad Hatters can have as many freakin' Un-birthday's as they want." The X5 male glowered darkly, "But draggin' our boy into it's a whole other kettle o' fish."

"See this is where the _really_ crazy stuff starts coming out." Linda shuffled a stack of papers on a nearby desk, seemingly more for the effect of occupying her hands then for organizational purposes, "Bren's gang is, of course, aware that the-powers-that-be inside Terminal City would put a major dampener on any solid attempts at a takeover."

"First damn straight thought the chickie's ever had, apparently." Max's smile and voice were strained through grit teeth.

"Well that's one ulterior motive Bren had in kidnapping your son." Linda licked her bottom lip and blew out a weary, disgusted breath, "She wanted to keep you off her back."

Alec actually let out a laugh of disbelief at that insinuation and even Max cracked a dangerous grin.

"She doesn't _know_ you." Linda reminded them coolly, "Aside from that, the woman's nuts over your deceased friend Ben. The real crux of the matter is that Bren has it in her warped head that Brac's blood pumping through their veins will give her team an edge on the rest of your kind."

"Okay, so movin' on from the cuckoo's nest, if that's alright with you," Alec's complete and sudden impassiveness threw Linda, but not Max or Nyx. Anyone who knew the X5 was aware that the act was merely a save-face for when his emotions ran too hot for rational thought.

"Maxie, I think you and I need to have a lil' one-on-one." Alec waved a finger between himself and his mate before aiming it in the direction of the corner. Max raised an eyebrow in Nyx's direction questioningly.

"Nyxie!"

The girl looked up from a stack of papers she was perusing with wide eyes. Alec nodded his head at the far corner of the room as Max moved to the spot, and Nyx furrowed her eyebrows in pleading displeasure.

"I'm just in the middle of something! I'll be fine right here!"

"We're gonna be talkin' about what goes down from here with Brac." Alec informed his daughter in a tone that left no room for argument despite its causality. "So come on and move your butt."

"I'm on a roll…" Nyx began to protest in a whine, but Linda cut her off.

"Nyx, clearly your parents don't trust me with you, and they're entitled to feel that way." The woman drummed her manicured fingernails on the oak of her desk as she fixed Nyx with stony eyes.

Nyx huffed in frustration and pushed off from the sofa to join Max and Alec at the far end of the room.

"I don't trust her." Was Alec's first statement, spoken at a soft pitch that kep the conversation between the three.

"So what? You don't trust me or Brac either!" Nyx pointed out sourly as she placed her hands on her hips.

"I would if you'd work on giving me one good reason to start it up again!" Alec retorted with a matter-of-fact raise of his eyebrows, and Max's mouth tightened.

"Okay, enough!" She hissed, and was met with silence in compliant response, "I say we let Linda go to the pick-up, follow her there, then tail the delivery boy." Max widened her eyes challengingly at Alec's blank stare, "Any other suggestions?"

Alec shrugged caustically, "There's just the lil' insignificant issue of where Nyx is gonna fit in with all this. I mean, we could always just put her on a bus back to the Cales', but I figure she might conveniently get _lost_," Here he frowned pointedly at Nyx, "somewhere along the way."

"Good point," Max noted, observing the slender figure jotting down notes at the other end of the front room from the corner of her eye.

"What? I'll go straight there, I promise!" Nyx protested in an injured tone, then stomped her foot as her parents exchanged classic expressions of skepticism, "Look, you can put me in a cab and tell the driver to lock me in until we get to Uncle Logan's if you want to!"

Alec blinked at her and then looked at Max to ascertain his mate's reaction.

Max shook her head and returned the gaze. Neither spoke for a moment, each weighing up the options silently in their minds.

Finally, Nyx broke the ice with a quiet sigh as her eyes lowered to the floor, "I'm sorry, Mom and Dad. I know you guys can't trust me anymore. But this is Brac we're talking about here," She looked up at each of her parents in turn, "and something's gotta give if we want to get him out of there."

Max's eyes flickered from Alec to her daughter and back again. Alec's lips pressed into a purse of deep inner struggle for a moment before he sighed through his nose and raised an eyebrow at Max.

"Call Zack."

Max's face contorted with disbelief, "What?"

Alec growled deep in his throat as he rubbed a hand over his face and listed the other into his jacket pocket, "You heard me, Max."

"Call him for _what_?" She rephrased the question while trying to honestly figure out just where Alec was going with the request.

"Ask him to come here and take Nyxie back to Logan 'n Asha's place." Alec muttered, avoiding Max's gaze and scratching the back of his head.

"Why _him_?" Nyx questioned in a small voice that was heavy with displeasure and pleading nonetheless, "If you're gonna make someone come all the way here to get me, it may as well be Uncle Logan!"

Max resisted the urge to inquire of her daughter exactly _what _Zack had done in the small margin of time they had known each other to make the kid dislike him so vehemently. To all of Max's knowledge, her older brother hadn't even spoken a _word_ to Nyxie…

Which, on second thoughts, may have been a contributing factor…

"Because," Alec was explaining dryly as he threw a fleeting glance at the window to their right, "_Zack_ is most likely _already here_."


	18. Chapter 18

_Back with another update. Thank you all for your continuous, faithful reviewing. It motivates and rewards my efforts all in one. Please don't stop. God bless._

_-- Tyler_

"_Zack_ is most likely _already here_."

Max rolled her eyes at the very likely truth of Alec's statement and then nodded, "Alright I'll text him. Don't wanna have a two-hour screaming match down the phone."

"If that man _ever_ raises his voice at you…"

"Quiet." Max snapped out at Alec's surly remark as she thumbed in a quick request to Zack before turning to stride towards Linda once more.

"Okay here's the deal, sweetcakes – clean up our daughter's breathing and you've got your ticket outta here."

"That's not what this has ever been about…" Linda began, but Alec cut her off as he moved to Max's side.

"Can you do it or not?"

Linda bit back a retort and pulled in her lips. A few meters off from the adults, Nyx was cautiously taking in the scene with dubious brown eyes.

Max crossed her arms and waited. Alec raised his eyebrows at the scientist and Linda finally acquiesced with closed-eyed nod.

"It's doable."

"Okay." Alec ceded with a frustrated 'thank you very much' shrug (a shrug which also smacked of 'what took you so long').

"But…I don't understand." Nyx narrowed her eyes in confusion and Max, Linda and Alec all turned to face the child. She was wearing a grieved and injured expression as she paced halfway to the wall and then twisted around to face Linda.

"You said you were still working on a permanent cure. You didn't _have_ one yet!"

If the betrayal on Nyx's young, strikingly innocent face was grating on Linda, the woman's steel response certainly didn't impart as much, "I _said_ I was working on new avenues of treatment for the particular disease you contracted…"

"I didn't 'contract' _shit_!" Nyx stormed closer as her face took on an angry glower. "You infected me!"

"We went over the contract three times, Nyx – you had every opportunity to pull out of the deal!" Linda retorted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Alec interrupted with a dangerous squint to his eyes as he turned to look down at Nyx, "You signed a contract?"

Nyx eyed her shoes and her silence confirmed the answer.

Alec blew out a breath of disbelief and locked eyes with Max before turning back to Nyx, "Are you _seriously_ tellin' me this was all above-board?"

"I'm a recognized doctor in my field." Linda snapped, "Are you implying that it wasn't?"

"My daughter's eleven." Alec informed her with a cold glare, "For it to have been in _any_ way legal, she'd have to have some kinda parental permission."

"Oh I'm sorry," Linda's apology and the tone in which she gave it suggested she was anything but, "Are these not yours?"

Max and Alec looked at the paper which the woman was extending to them. At the bottom, across two dotted lines, were exact replicas of the X5s signatures.

Linda smiled briefly at the speechless pair, "Digital matches when measured up against other documents you've signed. Guess your daughter's forged off one too many _autographs_ for you both."

Max didn't waste a glare on Linda. Instead she and Alec both focused lucid scowls of displeasure at Nyx, who was now looking at the chintzy carpet with a wish that it would swallow her whole.

"Got anything to say for yourself?" Max asked after a moment of stoic silence from her daughter.

Nyx's head didn't move from its evasive position, but her lips pressed into a pout that implied she was trying desperately to think of a way to salvage the situation. After another moment, the girl seemed to finally give up and her shoulders drooped.

"I'm sorry." She whispered in a mono-tone voice, "I should never have dragged you guys into this."

"That's it?" Alec sounded unapologetically angered by now, "You lied to us and went behind our backs for _two weeks_ to be a test subject for the woman who made your brother's life a living hell, and all you can say is 'I'm sorry for dragging you into this'?"

"Alec," Max whispered with a cautioning raise of her eyebrows, and his matter-of-fact, corrosive stare shifted from Nyx to his mate.

"She doesn't know." Max reminded Alec in a quiet voice, and his face remained set.

"Well maybe it's about time she did."

"Know what?" Nyx's head shot up quickly and her large brown eyes widened with curiosity, "Mom, what is he talking about?"

Alec raised an eyebrow at Max, and she sighed heavily, closing her eyes before issuing out a nod. She understood Alec's reasoning and agreed – if Nyx was old enough to be undertaking such dangerous liaisons with Sandburg, she was old enough to be fully aware of the woman's past record.

"Dad?" Nyx was standing closer to Alec now, her wide eyes darting from him to Linda, "What do you mean? What did Linda do to Brac?"

Alec's lips pursed out for a moment before he answered in a quiet, rough tone, "They uh, your brother and Linda…" His voice cracked and he averted his gaze uncomfortably, "She had sex with him."

"_What_?" Nyx's face contorted into a grimace of horror as she whirled around to face Linda, "Is it true?"

Linda snorted and shook her head, "What, are your righteous sensibilities offended? I hardly think you're in any sort of position to judge us for what we did." She strode towards the window but then paused and swiveled to eye the girl, "Yes, it's true. I slept with Brac. And no, I don't regret it." She raised an eyebrow saucily at the clenching of Nyx's jaw, "And neither does your brother."

"Alright, you know what? That's enough." Max started forward, but Linda wasn't finished, and proceeded to continue in a sharper and faster tone, pinning Nyx with her hard brown orbs.

"Brac wanted more, in fact – and I could have given it to him…if it wasn't for that fact that your father shut me out in the cold and split us apart!"

Linda's heart skipped a beat, but other then that, her body didn't even have time to register the figure blurring across the room before a pair of hands were on her collar and she was pinned against the wall.

Alec's eyes burned into hers, "This is the last time I'm gonna warn you." He leant closer, and the almost tangible energy coursing from the X5 would have bombarded any woman's sense with an unstoppable flurry of desire. But the raging anger crackling in Alec's quiet, grit-teethed voice had Linda's nerves on a whole other edge.

"Stop talking about my son."

He let her go then and turned to walk away, but Linda straightened up and eyed Alec's broad back with flaming eyes.

"You don't even _know_ your son!"

He stopped dead in his tracks, turned to face her. Unfazed, she continued.

"If you'd just taken time to understand Brac - who he really is, the potential he really has," Linda waved a hand and jabbed the other one against her hip, as Alex edged closer and closer, "If you and your _mate_ would get your heads out of your asses and realize that your children are powder kegs just aching to explode," She narrowed her eyes as Alec's own glaring ones stared a foot away, "Home wouldn't have become a place they always run away from."

Alec smiled tightly and turned away before twisting back and landing a sharp backhand across the malevolent woman's cheek. Linda's head snapped to the side but she recovered quickly from the slap (which had been more humiliating then painful) and moved to swing a fist at Alec.

He caught it easily and twisted it around, up and behind the woman's back before pinning her face-down on the desk. Max and Nyx looked on cautiously and the former stepped closer to her mate as his shoulders squared matter-of-factly.

"You have ten minutes to come up with a cure for Nyx." Alec informed her coolly.

"And then _what_, hmm?" Linda had the dignity to remain still and not attempt to struggle under the vice-grip Alec had her trapped in, "Once I solve Nyx's breathing issues, I'm no longer necessary to your tender little cause!"

Alec smirked, but there was no mirth in it, "Once you do the deed, as Max said, you're free to walk. Unless of course you'd rather we get Detective Sung down here and turn you over."

Linda's mouth twisted and she rolled her eyes, "Ten minutes."

"Peachy." Alec released his hold on the woman and turned his back on her as though she were of no further consequence. Striding over to Max, Alec lowered his head and whispered something in her ear.

Nyx watched as Max's face remained impassive and her mother merely nodded and murmured a response in Alec's ear before the latter turned to Nyx.

Alec didn't even have to breathe a word. Nyx knew the expression her father was wearing all too well, and instantly a whining pitch heightened her tone.

"Dad, I said I was sorry already!"

Alec closed his eyes wearily, "Nyx,"

"Come on, please!" Nyx whimpered as Max abandoned her to take up guard next to Linda.

"Are you trying to say you don't deserve it?" Alec demanded quietly with a stern raise of his eyebrows, and Nyx huffed at the question.

"You told me that you wouldn't!" She accused as Alec rolled his eyes and steered her down the hallway in the direction of the apartment's single bedroom.

"That was for Tarrant." He informed her composedly, closing the door and twisting the tarnished bronze key in the lock before turning to Nyx, "This is for goin' AWOL, for all the crap with Linda and the drugs, and most importantly, for lying to us."

"I said I'm sorry!" Nyx repeated desperately, tears filling her eyes, and Alec sighed and crouched down, taking Nyx's hands in his own and staring up into her face.

"Dad I won't do it again, _please_!" Nyx gazed mournfully down at Alec, and the X5 raised his eyebrows in an equally morose expression.

"You wanna know something? When your brother showed up in Southview after he fought with your mom and ran away…"

"This is different!" Nyx began to protest, but Alec shook his head and continued.

"I found out he'd taken drugs again and gotten in trouble with the cops because he'd stolen a car and driven it when he was drunk and high." Alec's eyebrows fell now as he straightened up and put an arm around Nyx.

"Were you mad?" Nyx queried softly, sensing where the conversation was leading but not liking it one little bit.

Alec nodded with a tight-lipped expression, "More scared then mad. Brac could have gotten himself killed _so_ many times between T.C and Southview. I just didn't even wanna think about it."

"He wasn't sorry, was he?" Nyx gazed wryly at the floor as she and Alec sat down on the edge of Linda's crème bedspread.

"Honestly?" Alec kept one hand around Nyx's small shoulders and rubbed his forehead with the other, "I don't know."

"But he was when you were done with him, though." The quiet fear in Nyx's voice spilled over as she looked up into Alec's eyes, "He got the belt, didn't he?"

A stab of pain flashing through her dad's green eyes caused Nyx to regret her words instantly. "Dad, it's okay. I know you hate it when…I just meant that…"

"I'm not gonna belt you, Nyxie," Alec stated bluntly, "in case that's what you were afraid of. All I'm sayin' is your brother pulled crap like this with me and he got hided for it. Are you sayin' you should be a special case?"

Nyx cringed under Alec's matter-of-fact stare and fumbled with her hands before muttering, "No."

Alec nodded mutely, "Then let's get this over with."

Max raised an eyebrow at Linda as the woman reversed a number of medical equation cards with a quick shifting of her hands. From what Max had witnessed of Linda's work so far, the woman was a genius. What she lacked in technical perfection, she seemed to more then make up for with brutal determination and inspiration.

_Having a genetically-empowered ex-soldier breathing down her neck probably makes for some pretty fine motivation on the side_, Max though wryly as she studied the notes over Linda's shoulder. The woman's lips were pouted tightly in concentration and her fingers flew as she worked. Her eyes followed the flurry of her hands and worked in sync with the rest of her body language to give Max no indication of acknowledgment – until Linda spoke, that was.

"I have a question for you, without meaning to be intrusive."

Max snorted, _Is she serious?_ "I don't really think at this point you could have a bigger foot in our door, so you may as well shoot."

Linda raised an eyebrow but didn't take the bait, instead continuing to focus on her work. But after a minute or so, she broached a query.

"Is Nyx being punished for her sake or yours?"

"Not tracking here." Max bristled.

Linda shrugged and continued, "Is it because of what she did, or because of the fact that, as much as you wanted to, you weren't able to stop her?"

Max scowled but gave the question some serious consideration. After a moment of hemming and hawing, she shook her head, "It's just everything. The whole plan, everything she kept from us, all the risks she took." Max's eyes took on a far away look and Linda stole a glance at the woman to read wistful fear in the X5's face.

"It's in her blood. You have to know that." Linda's eyes quickly returned to her notes as Max's own shot her a brief glower, "You, Alec, Brac even…it's obvious after five minutes with your family that any one of you would throw yourselves in front of a train for the other."

"Alec and I are their _parents_." Max informed her coldly with a deadening of her eyes.

"And Brac and Nyx are your _children_." Linda agreed as she gathered up her papers after scrawling a few more notes, "From what I gather, they feel as adamant about yours and Alec's wellbeing as you do about theirs. And they pattern the way they express it by the way their parents do."

Max's beautiful face tightened into a glower at Linda's words, "Just cuz you're a doctor, it doesn't make you a shrink – and analyzing blood samples _doesn't_ qualify you to analyze my family, you got that?"

Linda returned Max a blank expression in response as she brushed past her, stalking to a dressing cabinet that was stocked with a great deal of bottles and tubes.

Max followed her suspiciously, while trying her best to entertain hopes that Linda's expertise would have Nyx's breathing returned to normal within the allotted time.

_If not_…Max shut her eyes and shook the thought out of her mind. The quiet which ensued forced into Max's sensitive ears the faint sound of Nyx's crying and the occasional stern rumble of Alec's voice. Max cleared her throat and sucked in a breath, turning to Linda with an eyebrow raise and a plastic smile.

"Got any coffee in this joint?"

Linda glanced up and graced Max with a mordant, deadpan scowl before her eyes flickered towards the hallway and rested back on Max. "He shouldn't be so hard on her."

Max was surprised that Linda had apparently been able to hear the same pitch of sound as the transgenic woman. _If she's been leeching off X5 blood as part of her precious little 'cut', I'm gonna kick her_…

"It's hardly as though Nyx is the only one at fault in this equation." Linda added stonily as she sauntered into a seedy-looking kitchen and Max tailed her relentlessly.

"Well if it'll help you get over all that _guilt_ you must be feeling," Max smiled sarcastically and her sugar-coated tone matched the action perfectly, "I'll get Alec to bend you over his knee when this is all finished."

Linda paused in her rummaging through an overhead cupboard, the look she threw Max all but screaming 'did you actually just say that?' After a brief second, however, she recovered and raised her eyebrows coolly.

"He'd have to promise to use a whip." Linda shoved something into Max's hands and then moved past her without another word.

Max scoffed under her breath and her grin morphed into a grimace as a (too-graphic-for-comfort) mental picture accompanied Linda's snide retort and churned Max's stomach. She didn't know whether to laugh or retch, so instead Max opted for concentrating on the Instant Roast Blend jar she was cupping to her chest.

The woman was feisty – Max had to give her that. But whether Linda had nerve enough to go through with the rest of the bargains she had made to the opposing players in the game for Brac – that was a whole other matter.

Max switched on the kettle and floundered around for two mugs, her hands focused fully on the task of making coffee for herself and Alec, but her eyes and ears trained to Linda's every move. For some unusual (and unsettling) reason, the woman was beginning to appear in Max's sight as yet another reminder of Brac – a walking, breathing object that had once been a part of her son's physical reality…

Something he had touched…something that had both thrilled and terrified him…

Max quickly averted her gaze as she realized that Linda was looking at her. "Do you have any sugar?" Max queried hastily in a quiet voice as she fought to keep the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her at bay.

"I use honey." Linda informed her turgidly as she mixed various syrups and transparent liquids on the countertop. "It's in the top cabinet to your right."

"Thanks." Max grimaced, but forced the word to sound as non-sarcastic as it could under the circumstances. Who the hell put _honey_ in their caffeine? Wait…Brac had gone on a health spree for about a period of a week after his thirteenth, namely pushing the benefits of honey as a substitute for sugar.

Max stirred the drinks in front of her awkwardly, but couldn't help cracking a grin as she recalled her sugar-loving son suddenly obsessing over the glucose content of Cornflakes and raising his eyebrows condemningly at his family in the process.

Max had been totally focused on a massive stack of ITU paperwork and barely acknowledged Brac's self-righteous lecture.

Nyx had listened more intently then she would now admit to, and had even made several comments to the tune of being somewhat convinced.

Alec had been completely horrified. He'd shot down Brac's strong blanket statements with a sarcastic list of his _own_ 'statistics' that 'proved honey was linked to cancer, hair loss and impotence', followed up with a muttered remark to the effect of 'no son of mine' and 'verified statistics my ass'.

The impatient pealing of Max's phone pulled her out of her reverie, and she hastily held it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Max, I hope you realize how _completely_ stupid this whole thing is making you both look."

Max cringed and felt herself shrink back instinctively at the strong disapproval ringing in Zack's bark. Her former C.O had been the closest thing Max had ever had to a father (or her own messed-up version of the concept, at any rate).

Still, it had been a good fourteen years since Max and her brother had been in contact, and the rash, impetuous nineteen year-old Zack had fostered had now grown into a mature woman (well Max had to admit that she had her moments – life with Alec didn't exactly allow for a great deal of somber rationality).

"Look are you coming or not?" Max ground out, noticing that Linda was putting the finishing touches on a syringe filled with thick, transparent liquid.

"I'm walking down the alleyway. What's the house number?" Zack's voice indicated that the man was wearing a tight-lipped expression.

"It's number Seven." Max sighed and moved to gaze out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Zack's sandy hair and leather jacket in the grimy street below, "Zack, I…uh just you know…"

"Spit it out, Max."

Max closed her eyes. _I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I could never just be your blind, obedient little solider like the others. I'm sorry I've put you through so much crap and that you still feel responsible for me. I'm sorry that we still have to care about each other. _

"Thanks," Max strained out the words, "You know, for bein' here and wanting to help and all." There was utter silence from her brother, "It means a lot to me…to _us_, I mean."

Zack was still unresponsive. Max started to worry.

"Zack?" She felt her eyebrows furrow up and frowned as she brushed past Linda and into the front room…only to come face to face with her older brother as the X5 male closed the door briskly behind him.

Zack's mouth was still set into a tight purse and his brow was heavy as he took a quick glance around the apartment before resting his gaze on Max.

"You know, with your time record, you'd make one wicked pizza delivery boy." She stated after a moment of brief moment of static silence.

Zack raised an eyebrow, "With the blazing set of tracks you left for me to follow, you'd make one piss-poor hit-man."

Max smirked and hit him on the shoulder as he strode past her.

"You're welcome." Zack called back breezily.

Max shook her head and snorted, turning to head after Zack but pausing as Alec and Nyx emerged from the hallway at the commotion in the front room.

Max's instincts had her running a brief scan on both her mate and her daughter to determine the state of each one. Nyx's face was still slightly blotchy and her eyes were red, but the tight fisting of her hand into the fabric of Alec's shirt expressed that Nyx's unwavering trust and devotion to her father hadn't budged an inch.

Alec's arm was draped across Nyx's shoulders and his fingers were subconsciously brushing the side of her neck. His eyebrows raised at Max his eyes narrowed questioningly at Zack's leather-clad back, but the rigid lines around his mouth suggested Alec was inwardly struggling and refusing to admit it.

"So turns out Zack wasn't far away." Max hastily returned to the topic at hand and Alec's eyes grew heavy with a hundred sardonic responses. Fortunately, the cocky X5 merely nodded in Zack's direction.

"He agree to it okay?"

"Seems like it." Max shrugged dubiously, and a taut voice belonging to Linda spoke out from the kitchen.

"If you want Nyx to breathe easy, McDowell and Co, we have to do this soon. This stuff isn't going to keep forever."

Alec's eyebrows arched once more, "That was quick. Think she actually pulled it off?"

Max smiled an acid grin that her mate was fully aware was not for him, "Well when there's a healthy amount of pressure, you'll be surprised what people can achieve."

At that moment, Linda appeared in the front room flicking at the end of a syringe – and making diabolical eyes at Zack, Max noted with disgust.

"Well hello. I see another genetically-engineered miracle has gone out of their way to break into my apartment." The hungry gleam beginning to glint in the woman's dark eyes was enough to incense Max and make Alec's blood run hot.

Zack merely eyed the woman with that dangerous, stony glare of his before turning back to Max, "What's wrong with Nyx?"

"Long story." Max responded tersely as she examined the liquid that Linda was stepping forward to insert her daughter with, "What's in it?"

Linda sighed in aggravation, "It's a product of inspiration, which means I have as little clue as you. But I can say this much – it will either have no effect or it will do the trick. Simple as that." The woman's eyes shifted from Alec to Max, who were exchanging dubious looks, "Look it's the best you've got right now. Time is not a commodity that any of us are in possession of."

The reluctant acceptance in the X5's faces was not mirrored on Nyx's. The young girl blanched and her grip on Alec's shirt tightened further.

"Dad…"

"It's okay, baby." He assured her while keeping a steely gaze fixed on Linda that promised deadly repercussions should the opposite occur.

"I don't want to." Nyx insisted in a soft tone laced with panic as she moved behind Alec, "What if it makes it worse?"

"It won't." Max raised her eyebrows at Linda in a manner similar to Alec's, and the woman's lips twisted wryly.

"Don't be afraid, Nyx," Linda handed the syringe to Max with a matter-of-fact frown, "Here you are."

Max eyed the device in her hand for a moment before closing her fingers around the syringe and approaching Nyx cautiously.

"I'm not letting anything _she_ made come inside of me again!" Nyx screamed and twisted away from her parents frantically.

"Nyx, easy, easy!" Alec insisted in a tone loud enough to capture Nyx's attention (and her shoulders) as he bent down to eye-level. "It's alright, you got me?"

"No! Two seconds ago, you guys hated her!" Nyx's voice was still raised and her face was a picture of distress as she flailed a hand towards Linda, "And now you suddenly trust her to…"

"We don't like it either, Nyxie, but we don't really have a choice right now!" Alec interrupted, gripping his daughter's arms firmer and maintaining eye contact, "If you don't trust her, that's fine. Trust _us_."

Max watched with anxious eyes as Nyx's face fell in defeat and she bit her lip.

"Okay."

Zack's lips twisted but the blank tenor of his face gave no other indication of his emotions as he watched Nyx roll up her sleeve and hold her eyes tightly closed as Max gently injected the girl with Linda's serum.

"That's it," Alec was murmuring in Nyx's ear as her nostrils flared at the sight of the white liquid entering her bloodstream, "S'almost done, baby, just a lil' more."

Zack sighed and his gaze flickered to the subtle laser beam of Linda's eyes as the woman appraised the X5 with a brief once-over and then raised an eyebrow, completely absorbed in her own thoughts and not seeming to care whether Zack was offended by it.

He rolled his eyes and returned his gaze to the family in front of him. It was the first time he had seen them properly interact since the hospital, and much as he refused to admit it consciously, Zack was beginning to feel gratitude for his little sister's quality of life.

Zack watched as Nyx recoiled the minute that the needle left her vein and leant quickly into Alec's one-armed embrace – not even glancing up…just _knowing_ he would be there.

"That's my girl." The normally brusque, devil-may-care X5 was soothing as he threaded his fingers through his daughter's hair –Max's hair, Zack noted.

He felt the twist in his lips pull into a glimmer of a smile as Nyx enveloped Max in a tight hug and the woman's face practically glowed.

Maybe Little Sister had actually managed to score a decent package this time.

Zack's grin faded into a condescending sneer, _For once_.


	19. Chapter 19

_Sorry to keep everybody waiting. I got drafted for a youth counsellor's road trip to Wales over the weekend (which was a blast - Swansea's goth/punk crowd are the sweetest bunch of kids around). Anyway I'm back now and have spent Sunday cooking this one up. Hope it's worth the wait. Feedback is worth the effort!_

_-- Tyler_

The rail-thin, mentally fragile leader of the team who had attained the allegedly-unattainable – abducting _and_ successfully holding Brac Logan McDowell – glanced at the lanky boy being limply shifted onto a stretcher bed.

Bren's lips twisted into a frustrated sneer. Brac McDowell's mind - despite the barrage of crap that the obsessed X5 woman (who was held in the boy's esteem as little more then a complete whack-job who needed about a year's worth of force-feeding and an additional ten of psychotherapy) had thrown at him - was still fully functional. Brac had been doing a great deal of sleeping and this, coupled with long hours alone, had resulted in his being in a perpetual state of oblivion.

A state which had, in turn, resulted in Bren deciding it was time to work on cracking the boy's remaining resolve. So far, the woman hadn't wasted much time in breaking down the staunch barriers Brac McDowell had walled up behind. Bren had been more concerned with ensuring that she had 493's hand-me-down blood pumping through her veins.

But now Ben's nephew was coming to the end of his usefulness as a living entity. Soon, he would be drained of every living drop of strength he still possessed – but in Bren's mind, that would be a complete and utter waste of X5-493's flesh kin.

Brac McDowell had already manifested enough quality in his escape attempts alone to prove his worth to Bren. Not that proving his worth was something the teenager had ever seemed to concern himself with in the first place.

The burning tingle coursing through his body was driving Brac McDowell up the wall. He was distinctly aware that the numerous jolts in his transition should really be affecting him, ill and weak as he was. But the amount of blood flowing through his veins – which was now approaching just the minimum amount a transgenic required to survive – had reduced any feeling in his skin to a 'pins-and-needles'-like sensation.

"Careful!" Brac heard Bren hiss as Kell and a fellow X6 male nearly dropped the young boy.

"He's a freaking deadweight." Kell complained in a mutter as he lowered Brac by his armpits onto the stretcher, "You'd think with all the body mass he's lost, the kid would be a whole lot freaking lighter."

_Fucking ass,_ Brac wanted to yell, though his senses didn't even come close to processing the action. Brac's incredibly high metabolism and the disadvantages it presented to bulking up had always been a touchy subject with the boy.

He was sure that his parents would go into full-blown cardiac arrest over his weight loss once they finally laid eyes on him…Alec especially. Yep. Brac was looking at a future intake of twelve prime steaks a day for the next good long while if his father got his way.

_A steak wouldn't go down sideways_…Brac found himself contemplating the completely abstract thought as he was carried on the stretcher, IV still inserted in his arm. _Ugh, actually my stomach probably won't be able to digest for like a couple days. Great – looks like Mom's freaky yoghurts are on the menu. _

Brac frowned in confusion as a frantic, angry yell sounded from the top floor of the container.

"…up here now! You've got to see this!" The dominant X5 male of the clan (and Bren's fuck-buddy as Brac had dully dubbed the man) called from the top of the stairs, and Bren quickly hiked the steps with Brac's 'pall-bearers' on her heels.

"The fuck is going on?" She demanded, following her fellow X5 over to the narrow slit of a window that streaked daylight into the dreary, dankly-lit room.

Brac felt his eyebrows furrow and his eyelids stir to open as Bren hissed out a "What the bloody hell?! When the fuck did this start happening?"

"It was all in about a minute." The X5 was barking out in a voice frothing with rage, "All came in at once, squad cars, helicopters, SWAT teams, the works. Looks like they're setting up fucking camp out there!"

_What the hell?_ Brac's eyes widened in alarm as he struggled to focus on the blurry forms of the transgenics a few feet away. A full-blown counter-strike team dead-set on negotiating surrender or blowing the whole damn joint…

Brac felt panic welling up inside him, _Stupid fucking government idiots! Don't Ordinaries know jack shit about this crap?! _He began to twist and pull on his restraints in a delirious attempt to free himself, _Dad…Mom…they'll see this. They'll fix it, make the stupid fuckers pull it back!_

Bren's head snapped up from the window at Brac's struggling. Her face hardened into a menacing, determined sneer as she stormed towards him. "Stop that shit! You hear me? You're not going _anywhere_!"

The boy continued to yank viciously and twist against the straps, his eyes glassy and framing a far-away expression. "Dad…Mom…fix it…" Brac was mumbling incoherently as beads of sweat trickled down his forehead and mingled with the tears on his cheeks.

Bren's eyes narrowed and flared with red-hot ire. "That's the best damn idea he's had so far!" She yelled, turning to Kell who was eyeing the gathering horde of military surrounding their container with wide, frightened eyes.

"Don't just stand there like a fucking idiot! Get the goddamn phone!" Bren snatched the young man's collar and tossed him back several feet. Kell scurried to comply, every now and then casting furtive glances at the sound of a megaphone-enhanced officer barking out warnings and attempting to introduce a hostage negotiator into the works.

Bren snatched the phone the moment Kell was within reach, sifting into her pocket and producing Brac's camouflage-print wallet.

"Bren, what the fuck is the fucking plan?" yelled the X5 male as he glared at the demands for compliance booming through the containers shallow metal walls.

"We cant get them off our backs, we're just gonna have to call in a little outside help!" Bren snapped as she briefly scanned the phone numbers listed in the tiny slip pressed under the plastic of Brac's wallet.

"What are you talking about?" Kell finally found his voice as he watched dubiously as the woman thumbed a number into the sleek black cell and held it to her ear.

"Shut up!" Bren ordered with a glower that flashed dangerous teeth at the young man.

"Alec, your phone." Max raised her eyebrows at her mate, alerting him to the chime of his cell which was all but drowned out by the heated discussion (it had been bordering on an argument for quite some time) between Alec and Zack.

"I hear it." The X5 insisted obstinately with a sulking glare for Max as he tapped the button and pressed his ear to the phone, "Hello?"

"Dad?"

Alec stumbled back so fast that he would have crashed into the table had not Zack swung out an arm reflexively to stop the potentially brutal fall from taking place.

Alec's face was a picture of so many emotions that it was almost indeterminable – shock, disbelief, agony, relief. But overwhelmed was definitely the prominent feature.

"Brac?" Alec breathed out the name in an incredulous whisper, and Max, Nyx, Zack and Linda all started in shock.

"Oh my god!" Max breathed, and she was by Alec's side before Linda had even seen her move.

"Dad? Mom?" The voice on the other end of the line was weak, hoarse and cracking – but it was unmistakably their son.

"Brac?" Alec's free hand was gripping the table edge as Max grabbed his wrist and held the phone between their ears. Static ruffled the line for a brief moment, and both X5s felt their hearts skip a beat.

"Brac, can you hear us?" Alec's eyes narrowed desperately and Max clutched the phone so tightly her knuckles turned white, "It's us, it's Dad and Mom – answer me, are you okay?"

"If you don't want to see your son in a body bag on the six o'clock news," A new voice, female and aggravated beyond description, barked down the receiver, "get them to pull everything off our backs, and I mean _everything_!"

"Who is this?" Max demanded, taking full charge of the phone as Alec raced to turn the television on.

"The woman wondering what the hell a crowd of squad cars and choppers is doing buzzing around asking for a fight!" Bren snapped acidly.

"What?" Max demanded as she felt her heart racing against her breastbone with violent force.

"This isn't a fucking game, Guevara! I'm an inch off from snapping Brac's spine, so don't fuck with me here!"

"Listen, you've gotta work with me here, okay? Now talk to me – what's going on?" Max fought to remain calm as Alec barked her name and she strode hastily towards the TV set.

She heard Bren snort on the other end of the line, "Assuming that you aren't aware the feds just freaking swamped us with the cavalry is gonna pretty hard for me at this point in fucking time, Guevara!"

"Oh god…" Max murmured in disbelief as she took in the CNN broadcast capturing images of the siege on Bren's container – a large, dark block of pleated metal that loomed forebodingly over the armed forces surrounding it.

"He's not available at the moment." Bren seemed to have cooled off slightly at the knowledge that Max and Alec had not played any involvement in pulling a fast one on her clan. "Now listen – I want them gone, you understand me? Everything; the squad cars, the choppers, the whole damn works, or Brac's dead!"

"I don't fucking believe this!" Alec yelled at the television, righteous anger pouring off the man in droves as he turned and kicked out at a lamp-stand, sending it crashing to the floor.

"Max, tell her we need time." He threw out quickly as he picked up Linda's phone and began punching in numbers with flying fingers. "I'm calling Johnston now!"

"We're getting them off your back. Just give us time!" Max stated in what she hoped was a convincing manner, and Bren growled down receiver.

"If one bullet goes off at us, and I mean _one_," The woman hissed, "your son's dead meat!"

"I got you – just bear with us a minute!" Max snapped in response, wanting nothing more then to yell at Bren that if the crazed psychopath laid one fucking finger on her boy, Max would snap her neck clean – and wouldn't lose an ounce of sleep over doing so.

"Fine." The line went dead.

"Hello?" Alec's voice had lost all of the political reserve it normally held when speaking to officials. The brusque commando, the rough edge to his tone and the deadly anger crackling at the brink of it transformed the man fully in X5 – 494 – Manticore's awe-inspiring and terrible offspring.

Max felt herself suppressing the utter terror that both she and Alec were undoubtedly feeling at the precarious situation. Instead, the soldier in Max emerged to full bloom once more, and her brown eyes hardened determinedly along with every muscle in her body. X5 – 452 had come out to play.

"This is ITU Agent Alec McDowell…" Alec's eyes were narrowed into hard slits as he picked up the phone stand and paced slightly, "Oh you can help me alright – you can get the fucking cell phone number of whoever authorized the armed dogs barkin' at the heels of my sons' kidnappers!"

"Max," Zack was behind her now, and leaning over her shoulder to speak in low tones, "You have to strike while the iron's hot. As soon as they pull back, she's going to mole it and bury Brac so deep you'll never find him."

"Johnston, huh?" Alec threw Max a hard look which she soon mirrored as he took in the information being fed him over the phone, "Alright well get me the number of whoever's headin' up the siege."

Max's stony glare remained fixed on the television images of black-clad SWAT teams milling through a sea of white and black police cars, "We _always_ find him." She stated matter-of-factly.

Special Agent Jerry Landerson glanced up from the conversation he'd been immersed in at the peal of his cell phone.

"This is it, you guys." The stout, afro-Caribbean agent informed the armed forces hovering anxiously on the site, awaiting some form of communication from the transgenics that would indicate what the next move would be.

Agent Landerson shoved a hand deeper into the pocket of his bulky winter jacket as he raised the phone to his ear, "Talk to me."

"No problem there." The voice grinding down the end of the line carried such a biting undercurrent that Landerson actually stiffened.

"Is this Agent Landerson?"

"It is. May I ask who I'm speaking to?" Landerson raised an eyebrow at the dormant container which was manifesting no signs of life in the cold December cloud cover.

"You're speakin' to the man whose kid's locked up in that building."

Landerson bristled and resisted the urge to hiss out a curse. Who the _hell_ had given Alec McDowell his phone number?

"How'd you get this number?" Landerson squinted darkly at his partner, a dour-faced female agent who just shrugged in response.

"I asked for it. You know, the way most _civilized_ people go about doin' things…"

"I was told you'd been informed of the decision authorized by Johnston to move Brac's case on to the next level." Landerson interrupted the rabid barrage of Alec's words with a cool flow of his own.

"Yeah well we must've missed the memo." Alec retorted, and Landerson cringed at the realization that the only information regarding the raid that the McDowell's were getting was from CNN.

"Now listen, I know you probably have orders to the contrary here," Alec was continuing in a voice that was every bit as hard, but a little less accusatory, "but you're gonna need to pull everything back as fast as you can get it outta there."

"Can't do that." Landerson responded, sincerely wishing that he was able to oblige the man's wishes, "I either gotta get a negotiator into the mix or send in a storm team."

"The only thing you gotta do is get your people out of there in one piece before the wave hits." Alec's tone was firm, persuasive – Landerson could almost taste the rationality in his tone. "You don't know how deep this thing goes. If you set it off, you might take these assholes out, but you'll create a hundred more just like'em."

Landerson pressed his lips together and threw a glance behind him at the troops reading themselves for action. "I gotta answer to a lot of people, McDowell."

"Yeah well it's my personal viewpoint that addin' a bunch o' pissed-off, professional killers into the mix isn't a prime next move."

Landerson chewed silently on the X5's words. Much as he hated to admit it (because to do so would trigger a series of actions on the agent's part that would evoke major repercussions), he had to agree with Alec's point. Landerson had worked with enough transgenics during his career to understand the mechanism of their extraordinary minds – intricate powerhouses operated by a surprisingly simple set of pressure valves. Cause and effect were the powers that be in the mind of an average transgenic…literal translation: live and let live – just don't piss us off.

"Look," The ITU agent was continuing on his bent, his voice inching a notch less assuming, growing quieter, "The woman who's in there, she just off got the line with my partner tellin' us she's gonna kill our son if your guys don't back off."

"Shit." Landerson rubbed his shaved head before shaking it incredulously, "How'd she know your number – is she an acquaintance of yours or something?"

"Brac has a list of phone numbers in his wallet. She must've gotten ahold of it somehow." Alec explained grimly, as though not wanting to waste any further time on the subject, "Look, I don't wanna threaten you here. I know you're just doin' your job, but you gotta call it off before things start unraveling or you've got a freaking war on your hands."

Landerson's lips twisted at the dreadful prospect of a civil war between the swelling transgenic nation and the United States government. It would be a bloodbath, of that much he was certain. Neither side would play fair, and Landerson knew from personal experience that when provoked, the transgenics could deliver low, low blows.

"Okay." Landerson breathed out the word with a sigh of annoyance, "Here's what I'm gonna do, Agent McDowell: I'm gonna give you three days to find out what the hell is up with these people and take'em down. You promise you can do that, and I'll call this off right now."

"Deal." Alec responded without hesitation.

Landerson nodded with a raise of his eyebrows, "Alright then." He cast a final glance at the pinched expression of impatient curiosity of his partner, "I'm gonna get my ass busted for this one if you don't come through, McDowell. Don't let me down."

The voice on the other end of the line snorted softly, "What's your first name, Landerson?"

"Jerry."

"Do you have kids, Jerry?"

"Yeah I got three. Where you goin' with this?"

"I don't think you gotta worry about me letting you down." Alec replied in a tone which would have sounded amused had it not been laced with sincerity, "This is my kid we're talkin' about. Just let us handle it."

Landerson's face tightened in understanding, "I gotcha."

"Thanks for your help." Alec stated, "We'll be in touch." With that, the line was terminated.

"Who was that?"

Landerson pocketed his phone and turned to face his partner, "Pull everybody back."

She blanched, "Excuse me?"

He huffed and pushed past her, leaning into an open side door of a police vehicle and procuring the intercom.

"Attention, all units! This is a call to return to base, I repeat, return to base! Pull back."

"Jerry, what the hell is going on?" The woman screeched, her wide eyes and sharp nose looming dangerously close to the agent's as he turned to grace her with a scowl.

"That's Landerson to you, woman!" He barked with a crinkled nose of indignation as he stepped away from the engraged officer, "And what's with the proximity, huh? Back up, go on, back up outta here." He shook his head and returned his attention to the intercom, "Jesus!"

No sooner had Alec gotten off the phone with Landerson then Max jumped to answer the buzzing cell phone in her hands.

"Hello?" Max leapt up from where she had been sitting clasping Nyx's hand.

"Time's up, 452." Bren's voice hissed down the line, "Do you want me to give your boy a goodbye kiss before I break his neck, or should I just…"

Alec had wrested the phone away from Max before Bren could finish her sentence, "Look, it's done! They're backin' off – just give'em a minute!"

"I'm not buyin' it, 494!" Bren barked.

"You really think we'd send in a squad team to start firin' when our son's still in there with you?" Alec snapped, and he heard the enraged woman at the other end of the line go silent for a moment at the truth of his statement.

"Well whaddya know?" Bren suddenly piped up again, and the faint scuffling coming over the phone suggested she was moving around, "Buggers' are movin' off. Guess you're off the hook for now, 494." Her voice rang with sardonism, "Well done."

Max closed her eyes in relief as the TV screen displayed astonished reporters and footage of the sizeable storm force turning tail on the container. She glanced up quickly as she heard her mate's next statement.

"Can we talk to our son?"

Max quickly moved to stand beside Alec and he threw her a grim but hopeful look, placing the phone between them once again.

"Brac's not really in the mood for conversation." The female voice sneered through the receiver, "But I'll tell him you called. Stay off our backs, 494. And keep a leash on your bitch of a mate."

The line went dead. Alec's eyes went skyward and he let out a heavy breath as he sank into an armchair and rubbed his forehead. Max sighed and closed her eyes tightly, hearing but paying no attention to the newsreel's jargon regarding the surprising turn of events in the Brac McDowell case.

Max didn't need audio evidence to be assured of the troops' withdrawal. The only proof that she and Alec had needed to hear had already reached their ears – Brac's voice, even if it was cracked and barely audible, had been enough to melt the layers of frozen anxiety.

Max caught Alec's eyes and instantly read what was on his mind. It was the same thought crossing hers.

_That was __**way**__ too close. _


	20. Chapter 20

_Back with another update. Sorry for the delay (and the fact it's rather short). Work has been MAD. Enjoy - oh and REVIEW! OR ELSE :p_

_-- Tyler_

"That was _way_ too close!" Bren yelled furiously as she zipped up her ratty fur jacket, "Someone's paying for that one, Eice, and I mean someone in addition to Tarrant!"

"Just take it easy, Bren." Eice, the beefy X5 male collecting keys from the underlings, offered, "We got three trucks and a bike. That's more then enough to get everyone out in one piece!"

"That's beside the fucking point!" Bren shrieked, hurling the boot she'd been about to buckle on in the direction of Eice's head. He caught the item before it even came into proximity with its target (his head) and rolled his eyes as he helf it out for the scathing Bren.

"This is why I don't work with Ordinaries, Eice – they always fucking screw you over!" She raved, snatching the boot and proceeding to don it without further ado, "I want Sandburg knocked off the line, you got me?"

Eice raised an eyebrow, "That woman's got a heck of a lot more intel on us then Tarrant, Bren! She's gonna pitch a hissy fit to the media if you cut her supply line off."

Bren sighed in disgust and swivleled on her hip to glare at Eice over her shoulder, "She won't be able to if she's fucking dead, innit?"

Eice groaned in annoyance, "So we waste Sandburg. And then? You really wanna stall all the time it's gonna take to cook up a new lab geek with the state o' the kid?"

Bren scowled. Eice had worked as partner to the woman in aid of her twisted schemes for a good few years. The X5 man knew her like the back of his hand – and the way her mind worked…or didn't, as the case may be. Subsequently, it was more or less down to Eice to put the brakes on Bren's fly-away fancies – an unenviable task at best and a dangerous one at worst.

"We're wasting her." Bren ordered in a chilling voice as she brushed past Eice and nodded at the other transgenics preparing for departure, "I want all the kids loaded up in the vans – keep them sedated and keep them fucking quiet. You," She turned to Kell, "You've got a special mission, soldier. Are you game?"

"Hit me." Kell grinned, evidently eager for the chance to prove his worth.

Linda smiled and reached out a skeletal palm behind her. Eice pressed something into it grudgingly, and Kell glanced down at the object Bren was extending to him – a set of motorbike keys.

"You've got Sandburg duty." She cooed. "Show up and snap. Simple as that." Bren raised an eyebrow at the confused expression on the X6's face, "You've done these sort before, haven't you, boy?"

Kell nodded and took the keys without another word. Eice watched him stride from the room with a frown. Apparently the X5 wasn't the only one of the pack who thought that killing Linda was a piss-poor idea.

His suspicions on the matter were further confirmed as Hales, a rusty-haired X6, came darting to the fore.

"You guys had better come!" The young, stone-faced woman announced sharply, "He's going into hypovolemic shock."

"Shit!" Eice hissed, stomping at the floor in frustration as he quickly made his way around the corner to the stretcher bed that Brac was still strapped to in preparation for transit.

"Damn it." Bren whispered as she took in the violent shivering that was overcoming the boy. She bent down and pried one of Brac's tightly-closed eyelids open with her thumb to behold the dilated pupils at the center of his eyeball.

"We need to get some oxygen into his bloodstream now," Eice informed her as she took Brac's pulse and found it to be rapid and weak, "Or he's gonna die on us."

"He's got an IV!" Bren protested with an acid glare as she straightened up. Clearly the woman was intent on avoiding another hospital raid to obtain the needed medical supplies with the precariousness of their situation.

"Not good enough – IV fluids don't carry enough oxygen for this kinda thing!" Hales interjected, eyes sharpening as Brac muttered deliriously and thrashed around as much as his restraints allowed him to. "He needs oral fluids with sugar…"

"Then get some fucking orange juice, girlie! Don't just stand there!" Bren roared, and Hales scurried to the storage room without further ado.

"The rest of you, get those Ordinaries into the vans, now!" Bren screeched out at the remaining transgenics, and they quickly complied, heading down to the basement level.

Eice shook his head irately as Brac's shock (which was caused from severe blood loss) worsened, and the cold, clammy state of the boy's skin became evident in the pale sheen that enveloped him.

"Bren, he's not gonna make it without oxygen."

"Then he'll have died in aid of the freedom on our nation!" She hissed in unrelenting response, reaching out to snatch the bottle of orange juice that Hales was extending to her.

"Come on, come on," Bren muttered as she unscrewed the cap, bending over Brac and clamping his face in one steel hand. "Drink it – drink it now!" She ordered in a yell, forcing Brac's mouth open and dousing it with half the contents of the bottle. Orange liquid spilled down the sides of Brac's face and he gagged, but the movement in his throat denoted that his body's habitual mechanism had kicked in.

"For fuck's sake, Bren, he's a goner!" Eice finally hollered as Bren ruthlessly force-fed Brac the remainder of the orange juice.

"Shut up!" Bren shrieked at him, standing up to swing a vicious hook into the man's jaw after ascertaining the overall milder condition that the fluid had affected on Brac.

"We have come too far on this one to throw it all away because you've had a fucking panic attack, you got me?" Bren raised her eyebrows as Eice stepped forward menacingly in reaction to the blow, "If he comes between us and progress, you can bet your life I'll end _his_ without hesitation – but until that happens, it's my duty to 493 to ensure that his nephew lives to see his destiny! Understand?"

The only sound that ensued after Bren's enraged outburst was the thrum of engines as the three non-descript, white vans parked strategically around the back of the container pulled out onto the road. The vehicles were identical – sporting now windows except the windscreen and two for the front row of seats. Directly behind that, a chicken-wire screen separated the dark, musty remainder – empty of everything expect several sedated and motionless young people.

The vans traveled in strategic formation – the first and latter bearing the majority of the transgenic team and their captives…the middle vehicle holding Eice, Bren and the most precious cargo of all…Brac McDowell.

Bren's pale lips twisted into a sneer as she checked the sideview mirror to ensure that all was well. "Perfect. They're keeping their fucking distance from the van. It'll be smooth sailin' to Maine."

Eice glowered from his position at the steering wheel, "I still say Maine's too far for an all-in-one-go." He ignored the icy frown the emaciated woman to his right was casting his way, "Think we should stop off at a hospital in Illinois and get an oxygen tank or something."

"Illinois is way too close – they'll have us in a bag if we stop off there." Bren shot back as she smoothed her bleach-blonde hair back behind her angular cheekbones.

Eice gripped the wheel tighter, "It's a 30 hour drive to Milwaukee from Seattle, Bren." He knew what was driving the woman to uproot them so relentlessly: the indomitable X5s 494 and 452.

"And the flight time?" She shot back with a raise of her eyebrow, not even gracing her fellow transgenic with a glance. Eice rolled his eyes.

"About 3 hours and 20 minutes."

Bren nodded in triumph, gleaming eyes now fastened on Eice, "And that's a commercial flight. They'll be taking a chopper and a damn fast one too…holy shit!"

"What the hell?" Eice yelled only a moment after as the van jolted violently and heaved its belly lower to the ground. He fought to maintain control as the speed guage dropped swiftly and the van began to drag its weight.

"We've got a flat!" He informed Bren loudly, but she was already twisting out of her window to take stock of the damages.

"No we've got four!" She screamed, head still thrust outside the window, "It's a freaking spike row right across the fucking road, Eice! How the hell did you manage to miss it?"

"Are the others swerving?" He roared back, ignoring the jibe (which would have only made matters worse as his response would have been to the tune of 'you distracted me').

Bren slammed a fists onto the metal of the door as she returned to her seat, "It's a fucking ambush- they're being pulled over!"

The sound of gunshots ringing across the barren road confirmed Bren's words, and Eice instinctively dipped his head lower and slammed on the accerlator as a line of armed figures standing behind a barricade loomed on the horizon.

"Hold on!" He yelled, and Bren braced herself for impact, all the while glaring in open-mouthed disbelief at the identity of the ambushers.

"Come to Daddy, ya pasty-faced slob of a van!" Mole yelled gleefully as he kept his rifle trained on the approaching vehicle that was tearing towards the roadblock with no manifest signs of slowing down.

Eice swerved the van into a violent horse-shoe twist, eating up gravel and turf as the vehicle tore off the road and plummeted down a foliage-covered hill. The X5 maintained control of the wheel as the shredded tires span furiously downhill.

"We're not gonna make it!" Eice yelled as a smattering of tress began to loom in the field ahead, "I can't keep control of the van with the tires blown, not at this speed!"

"Shit! They're tailing us!" Bren pressed the falt of her palm against the dashboard and glanced at the small, gun-totting dots advancing rapidly in the background, "Okay find somewhere we can pull in and make a runner! NOW!"

By the time Mole and Joshua tracked the van's sputtering trail to a grove of overhanging trees, their eyes met with an abandoned vehicle, the sliding side door still open from a fresh evacuation of the vehicle's occupants.

"Damn it!" Mole cursed as his eyes scanned the surrounding area for clues of an escape, "Alright, they can't be far. C'mon, let's split up and check the perimeter."

"Look at this." Joshua was motioning to the empty stretcher bed sitting in the back of the van. Mole pressed his lips together and leant in for a closer look.

"Ya think they had Brac in this one?"

Joshua sniffed the bed briefly and then nodded mournfully, "Lil' Fella. He must've been tied to this bed. Too weak to walk."

Mole cocked his rifle affirmatively, "Means they're carryin' him." He motioned for Joshua to head left, and the dog-faced nomalie checked his weapon before heading off without another word.

Mole braced his gun against the hollow of his shoulder and began his search, moving in the speedy yet silent manner of the lizard, his feet barely causing the dead leaves underneath them to stir.

He walked a full circle around the van, checking the circumference of the area for any signs of their prey. Nothing.

Mole swore under his breath as the clearing disappeared into a thick, leafy expanse. He hazarded a glance behind him before pushing on into the overgrowth. Before Mole had taken more then a few steps, however, a delicate tang reached his nostrils and caused him to freeze in his tracks.

Mole felt his breath hitch and he ran a finger on the underside of a leaf. A faint line of blood smudged across a trail of leaves.

"Shit." Mole muttered, and then cocked his gun at the whisper of a movement in the foliage ahead of him. Wherever his prey – Brac's kidnappers and the perpetrators of the acid pain which had become a constant presence in the lives of two of Mole's closest friends – were hiding, they weren't far.

And they weren't going anywhere.


	21. Chapter 21

_Once again, I apologize for the delay and the shortness of this update - I had planned on making it longer but I decided to go ahead and post it. I also decided (in case it isn't clear) that **a little character insight for our favourite girlie-girl was in order**, and who better to analyse Nyx's intricate personality then Zack? **I just thought that an assessment of Max's children from her older brother's point of view would make for interesting reading material**...I know I found it so. **As such, I thought it would be equally great to hear YOUR point of view in regards to Nyx and the sort of conflicting roles going on inside her** (you know, the brave, tough little soldier and the childlike, parental-craving little girl). If you as a reader have any deep or insightful thoughts to share with the rest of us..**.FIRE AWAY! And enjoy the chapter...and review :P. **_

**_-- Tyler_**

Zack's lips pressed tighter together, his nose scrunching higher and higher, in minute movements, into a classic face of disquiet as the child with the large, dewy brown eyes cast him another sidelong stare – the fifth one in two minutes.

Finally, the X5 cracked.

"What are you staring at?" Zack demanded curtly, turning to meet Nyx's eyes with his own.

She shrugged unapologetically, "My mom talks about you sometimes. I just always wanted to know what you looked like."

Zack's lips twisted slightly as he took in the young, heart-shaped face beside him.

God, it was like staring at an eleven year-old Max all over again - complete with the wide, dubious eyes that used to search Zack's own for reassurance.

He felt for the kid, really he did. First her brother had been kidnapped and missing for almost a full month, and now her parents were entrusting her into the hands of a man who was a relative stranger as far as Nyx McDowell was concerned.

Zack sighed and raised an eyebrow down at the girl from her position beside him on the bus. "What kinda things does your mom say about me?"

A small smile flickered at the edge of Nyx's lips. There. Zack had gotten a grin from her already – and the sight of Max's childhood smile flooded the older X5's shadowed core with a winter sunshine that he hadn't felt in years.

"Just…stuff." Nyx rummaged through her coat pockets as she spoke, "You know, 'bout how you were her C.O back at Manticore and how you used to look out for her even after you all split."

Zack's snort was imperceptible. _Used__ to look out for you, Maxie? Please – I never stopped. _

"She told me that she had such a strong heart," Nyx had produced a small chapstick and was untwisting it before she paused to look at Zack head-on, "because her older brother gave it to her."

Zack stiffened slightly and his eyes rested on the fading sun outside the double-decker window. Nyx seemed to notice the uncomfortable rigidity that had overcome the X5, and quickly set out to put Zack at his ease.

"Thanks," She said quietly, and then shrugged in an awkward manner all too similar to Max's as he stared at her, "for savin' my mom. I mean, if it wasn't for you, Brac 'n I wouldn't be around – not to mention what on earth Dad woulda done without her."

Zack raised his eyebrows at the simple expression of heartfelt appreciation. "You're welcome." _Although it was never my intention to do your father __any__ favors._

"Yeah well, Dad's pretty helpless without my mom." Nyx continued as she lathered her lips in chapstick before returning it to her pocket, "Though she's not much better off without him either, truth be told."

Zack had to choke back a strong huff of disagreement at that one. He smothered the cynical action in a studious-sounding grunt as he glanced non-commitally out the window.

Nyx was still young, and innocent, and somewhat naïve – but she wasn't fooled by Zack's pretences. Instead she raised her eyebrows and explained her point further.

"What I mean is they sorta balance each other out, you know? Like Mom's usually easy to string up, whereas Dad takes things in stride a lot more."

"From what I've seen, the guy takes _everything_ in stride except a dig on his manhood." Zack couldn't resist the quip as he rested his chin in the palm of his hand and his elbow on his knee.

It was Nyx's turn to scoff, "Have you seen him recently? The guy's a pressure cooker – you know, he takes a lotta heat for a long time and then one day," She waved a hand, "boom, the bomb goes off!"

"Huh," Zack muttered, "Sounds like Max, if you ask me."

"No way." Nyx informed him sagely, "Mom's just a frying pan – she sizzles, she fries, and if she stays at you for long enough then damn she burns!"

Zack eyed the small girl beside him with reluctant admiration. Nyx McDowell knew her parents well – apparently better then Zack himself (for all the man's close scrutiny and observation). He was beginning to understand the repercussions of fourteen incommunicado years and the changes that taken place in his little sister which years of shadowed supervision hadn't sufficiently unveiled.

"You mind if I ask you something a little…" Nyx scrunching her nose and waving a hand jolted Zack from his reverie, "personal?"

He eyed her sternly for a moment before squinting at the Seattle traffic ahead of them, "If I don't think it's appropriate to answer, I won't."

"Ugh, it's not anything kinky or anything like that!" Nyx glared in disgust, and Zack swallowed back a chuckle at the gesture. "I just wanna understand why you and my Dad dislike each other so much, is all."

Ah. Zack bit his lip. This was going to be a difficult one to answer – but it did merit at least an attempt at an explanation. And Nyx had asked so very nicely…

"It's complicated." Zack nodded, hoping that would placate the young girl.

"Adults always say that when they're too lazy to explain something." Nyx shot back, and Zack's eyes narrowed.

"Maybe they just don't want you to know."

"Well then they could just _say_ it instead of beating around the bush with all those stupid sayings like," Nyx raked a quotation mark in the air with her fingers, "'I'll tell you when you're older' or 'Can we talk about this later – like, you know, in ten years' time or something?'"

Zack had to stifle a snort at that one, "Who came up with _that_ one?"

"Dad always says that to Brac whenever my bro wants to know somethin' my parents think he's too young to be askin' 'bout." Nyx patted Zack's chest with the back of her palm and nodded at the window, "This is our stop."

"You don't say." Zack muttered as they stood up and headed down the staircase, Nyx in the lead - or so it would've seemed. Really, their walking arrangement bore closer resemblance to a shepherd and a lamb, with Zack unobtrusively guiding her along while keeping watch on all sides for signs of trouble.

But from the fluid, confident grace with which the girl moved, Zack was fairly certain that Nyx was familiar with discreet protection. Likely enough, his little sister adopted a similar method with Nyx – and as for 494…

It wasn't that Zack didn't like the guy. Well….maybe it was – just a little bit. The number one gauge in the X5's mind when judging an individual's respectability was that manner in which they cared for their loved ones. For Zack, he had expended all his resources, time and energy in ensuring the safety and prosperity of his family. An Alpha Male X5 who invested any less into those under his care was like a stinging backhand to Zack's cookie-cutter image of a 'good C.O'.

Then again, Zack had little reference material to fall back on when it came to Alec McDowell. He had known the man for a short while during his brief spell with Max in '19 – and it was fair to point out that Alec had been a happy-chappy twenty year-old still basking in the foreign pleasures of a post-Manticore life.

Zack hadn't thought much of the man at the time – except that he distinctly recalled being uncomfortable around a twinned personification of his fallen little brother. Oh, and the way Max had behaved towards 494 had also set Zack's jaw on edge. She'd thrown the cocky X5 her classic cast-iron-bitch act with just a hint of sauciness … a telltale symptom of Max's 'I-like-you-but-god-I-wish-I-didn't-and-like-hell-you're-gonna-know-it' dilemma.

"So?" Nyx's raised eyebrows and the cold air hitting his face simultaneously returned Zack to the present.

"So what?"

"So you gonna tell me why you and my Dad don't get along?" Nyx hugged her arms around her herself and kept step with Zack as the two ambled down the dusky Seattle street.

"We disagree on a number of pivotal issues." Zack commented dryly, digging his hands into the folds of his leather jacket.

"Like what?" Nyx queried, earning another brownie point with the tall X5 beside her for grasping the meaning of the word 'pivotal'.

"Issues about your mother, really." Zack fingered the keys of his motorbike as he spoke, watching curiously as Nyx stopped at a street vendor. "What's this?"

"It's like six o'clock – I'm starving." Nyx informed him as though it were obvious, digging into her pocket and pulling out some rumpled bills. She bit her lip and tapped her foot in anticipation as she titled up her head to the read the menu banner.

Zack frowned in disapproval, eyeing the greasy fry-ups being served critically, "You'll be home in about twenty minutes. You could just eat there."

"Are you kidding? I want a burrito and only Dad and Brac can make'em at home." Nyx flailed a hand with a grimace as she pointed to the menu, "One of those big ones, please? With lotsa cheese!"

Zack pressed his lips together but slouched in resignation, taking to scanning the area for telltale signs of danger. _She is __way__ too much like Max for her own good_.

"Oh sorry…uh…" Nyx shook her head and closed her eyes tightly as she prodded Zack, "do you want something? Cuz I could get it for you…"

"No thanks, I'm fine." He responded coolly, eyes flashing over her briefly before returning to the street. That drunk civilian totting a half-empty bottle and laughing raucously at his dog looked like a potential threat…

"You sure?" Nyx continued dubiously, "Cuz you haven't eaten all day, and Dad says your blood sugar levels get really low when you skip meals."

"Does he now?"

"Well yeah," Nyx scrunched up her nose at the manifest sarcasm dripping from Zack's tone, "I mean, it's a scientific fact. 'Course transgenics can go for up to six days without food or water, so…thank you…" she paused as the vendor handed her a steaming, paper-wrapped item in exchange for the cash, "I guess it's okay. But damn," Nyx shook her head as she eagerly unwrapped the burrito and inhaled the flavor dramatically, "why anyone would wanna miss out on one o' these beauties is an unsolved mystery!"

Zack shook his head, _Now __that__,_ he watched as Nyx took a large bite of her food with a relish, _is __all__ 494_.

Suddenly Nyx let out a small gasp and tugged Zack's arm.

"What is it?" He surmised from the sharp narrowing of her eyes that Nyx was anything but pleased.

She quickly swallowed her mouthful of food, "Shit. We gotta hide, come on!" She proceeded to haul Zack by his elbow down the street, only to have the tall man stop resolutely in his tracks.

"What's going on?" He demanded, and Nyx rolled her eyes impatiently, pulling up her hood and dipping her head in the direction of a bookstore across the road.

Zack raised an eyebrow at the man who had just emerged from the shop and was preparing to cross the road, one hand clutching a cell phone down which he was barking instructions and the other gripping a plastic bag.

Zack squinted at the middle-aged pedestrian, trying to pin down the fleeting recognition dancing around the man's thick-rimmed glasses, graying blonde hair and plaid collar. Then a teller came into play – Zack's ears distinctly picked up the briskly-barked words 'bip, bip, bip'.

His eyes widened and he quickly followed suit as Nyx herded him impatiently behind a phone booth.

"I had no idea Max's boss was still around Seattle!" Zack blew out a breath in disbelief and he grinned ironically at the figure of Normal crossing the street.

"Well luckily Jam Pony went national, so he travels around the country a lot." Nyx's face was scrunched into an expression of intense dislike as she attempted to take another bite of her burrito from the safety of her hood.

Zack squinted at Normal's fading figure, "Yeah I never really cared for Normal very much. Always gave me pissy rounds, plus he bad-mouthed Max." He paused and then cast Nyx a befuddled glance, "What's _your_ excuse?"

She sighed, "Every now and then my parents throw these bashes and invite all their old workmates. Normal calls me 'Missy-Miss Junior' and starts warning me about inheriting my Mom's attitude problems."

Zack snorted humorously as they continued to walk, "I take it there's still the same ol' banter goin' on between the two."

"Mom pretty much ignores him." Nyx shrugged, "But Dad and Brac think he's really funny for some reason. I dunno _what_ he says to make'em crack up, but last time Normal came, they spent half an hour just sitting and laughing at everything he said."

"They were more then likely laughing _at_ him as opposed to _with_ him." Zack informed her judiciously.

"Yeah well whatever. I think he's a jerk." Nyx huffed indignantly. Evidently the young girl's ego had taken more then one severe knocking from Reagan Ronald. "The only time Dad did anything but laugh with the guy was when he caught Normal tryin' to get Brac into the junior rink-sparring business." She smiled reminiscently (and with more then a hint of glee), "Ah it was _priceless_ hearin' Dad tell someone to 'shove their contacts where the sun don't shine'."

"Mm hmm." Zack was suddenly steering Nyx down a side alley, and she followed without complaint.

"Did you see them?" She asked, and the X5 nodded, not casting a second glance over his shoulder at the large black BMW cruising slowly through the traffic-packed street.

"They've been tailing us before the bus. You recognize them at all?" They rounded a corner and Nyx sighed in relief at the sight of Zack's motorcycle parked close by.

"Well not their faces, but I know the car." She swung a leg over the seat as Zack took up the helm of the vehicle and slid the key into the ignition slit. "It's the same one that was chasing me and Dad the other night – a BMW X5."

Zack shook his head with a snort of disdain as the engine purred to life beneath them, "Subtle."

"S'what I said." Nyx gripped her arms tightly around Zack's leather-clad waist and wedged her feet on the supports. The X5 raised an eyebrow at the comfortable familiarity with which the child had assumed the stance but chose to shrug it off. Whatever Nyx McDowell was, she most certainly wasn't shy. And it was evident from the way she flowed from one situation to the next in a graceful current of solid faith in Zack's protection that Nyx had accepted life under a continual shadow of security with all the matter-of-fact buoyancy her youth allowed.

Zack had to hand it to her for that. From what he had observed, Max's son was more the individual in question. He shook his head as he pulled the bike out onto another winding side street and headed towards T.C.

"You gonna go that back route?" Nyx called over the thrum of the engine, "Mom and Dad use these streets all the time when they're not in the Lexus. Is it like a Jam Pony thing?"

"It's a safety precaution – nothing to do with bike messengers." Zack snapped as they rounded a curve.

"Okay whatever then. I don't like these alleyways personally- they remind me of the time I got lost when I was nine."

"Just hang tight." Zack took a sharp turn as the faint hum of their pursuers came to the fore, the bike leaning heavily on its side and nearly grazing their knees against the street as it did so.

"I think they're CATL!" Nyx's yell caused Zack's lips to twitch but his concentration remained fully on the winding path ahead of them.

"What makes you so sure?"

"I didn't say I was sure!" She corrected indignantly, her arms squeezing Zack's waist tightly as he intensified their speed, "I said I think they're CATL! It makes sense, is all – they're the only people with this kinda blind, stupid nerve!"

"I'd have to disagree with you there!" Zack retorted, glancing up at the rumbling van blocking off their exit at the end of the alleyway. His eyes widened and he inhaled sharply as one of the windows rolled down and the barrel of a gun came into view.

"Shit!" Zack swore, pulling a U-turn so fast that the bike nearly jack-knifed. "Hold on!" He yelled to Nyx as the girl's knuckles fisted his jacket notably tighter, ducking at the sound of bullets ricocheting off the trash cans his bike just zoomed past.

"Take a left up here! There's an underpass!" Was Nyx's response – so very practical and down-to-earth in its nature, almost as though they weren't being tailed by a car-full of activist assassins through Seattle seedy side-streets. Zack would have marveled at her poise if he'd only had the powers of concentration just then.

True to Nyx's word, around a blind left curve they came to a barred-off underpass which burrowed beneath the highway leading into T.C. The vehicle-railings were just wide enough for Zack to squeeze his slender bike through – though both his and Nyx's knees glanced off the rails in the process.

Zack raced the bike through the underpass, glaring overhead lamps and smatters of graffiti streaking by in streaks of orange and purple. Nyx didn't appear to be thrown by the unruffled, level-headedness her X5 guardian was displaying. Zack wondered at that as he sped his bike full-throttle up the angular exit of the underpass and glanced back in satisfaction at the retreating ebony BMW at the beginning of the tunnel.

_It won't be long before they're on our tail again_. Zack set his jaw as they entered the highway. He hazarded a glance at Nyx in the rearview mirror, _How the hell is she so freaking calm?_


	22. Chapter 22

Linda glanced up quickly at the surreptitious figure who rounded the corner of the derelict chapel's pillar.

"Ms Sandburg?"

Her full lips pressed tightly together as she took in the young man clad in a grey overcoat and fraying jeans.

"Who are you?" Linda's hand gripped her handbag tighter and her cold eyes calculated every measured step the young man took as he casually approached her, hands dug into the pockets of his jacket.

"Name's Kell." He stated, swinging a foot absently at a stray Coke can that was littering the floor. "Here to drop your package off." Kell raised an eyebrow as Linda's hand strayed to the pocket of her coat.

He sighed in annoyance and looked away, "Or uh…" Kell tilted his head to the side and downwards to display the nape of his neck, "Do you wanna see some ID first?"

Linda rolled her eyes, "Just give me my cut so I get the hell on with my life."

"See uh," Kell eyed the floor with a scrunching of his brow and advanced a few steps closer, "That's gonna be a problem."

She scoffed, "Please. I don't have time for any of Bren's schizophrenic mainstream switches."

Kell snorted and flicked his tongue over his bottom lip with a slight smile, eyes still scanning the ground, "Well that's good."

Linda's eyes narrowed only moments before the X6 was no longer in front of her. Instead, a pair of deadly hands wrapped around her neck from behind and she found herself unable to move.

"This should only take a moment." Kell whispered into her ear with a shit-eating grin, and Linda squeezed her eyes tightly shut in preparation for the darkness that would soon engulf her.

Both she and Kell jumped in surprise at the feminine "Hey!" sounding off demandingly behind the X6 assassin.

Linda's breathing quickened as the sound of bone hitting bone resonated with a sickening _crack_ and Kell's hands released their grip on her neck.

Linda stumbled to the ground with the momentum of her sudden release and found herself being hauled up almost immediately afterward by a pair of slender, deathly-strong hands.

Max Guevara hoisted the stunned scientist to her feet and shook her by the shoulders.

"Run! Get as far away from here as you can and find the nearest police station! Go now!" Max shoved Linda to emphasize her point and the woman took off running, not even sparing a glance over her shoulder as she did so.

Max turned to eye the young X6 sprawled, half-conscious on the floor. The knock-out slug Max had aimed directly at the transgenic's temporal lobe would have had a normal youth his age out for several days.

Kell's pulse was steady and his vitals indicated that he would be stirring within the next few minutes. Max moved quickly, dragging a chair into the centre of the deserted, run-down chapel before hoisting Kell's unconscious frame over her shoulders and into a sitting position on the chair.

"This oughta hold you, kid." Max muttered under her breath as she produced a thick wire cord and knotted it around the full length of Kell's arms once she had draped them behind the chair's back. Max completed the restraint with a pair of handcuffs around Kell's bound wrists and a second cord securing his ankles and legs.

Max huffed briefly in satisfaction before whipping out her mobile phone and hitting the speed dial on Alec's number.

Two buzzes later, her mate's voice rumbled softly down the line, "Max?"

"There was an unexpected complication." She stated, eyes glued to the bruised, drooping frame hunched over in the chair before her. "I hadta improvise a little."

Alec went silent for a moment before he finally responded in an even tone, "What kinda complication?"

"Bren's goon tried to take out Linda. I had to intervene." Max explained casually, ignoring the bristle to Alec's tone as he instantly replied.

"Define 'intervene'."

"Linda got away, things got a little scuffly – bottom line, I've got Douche Bag tied to a chair and he'll be comin' to any minute now." Max raised an eyebrow as a soft moan erupted from Kell, "Cancel that. He's comin' to now."

"Good. Make him talk." Was Alec's brusque comeback, "Nine outta ten says Bren pulled the plug on their current location. If she sent someone to waste Linda, my best bet is Crazy Lady's movin' the whole operation to Vancouver as we speak."

"Yeah well not if Junior spills the scoop." Max bent down slightly to cast Kell a dangerous smile as the young man's bleary eyes began to flutter open, "Seems Linda and Bren have more in common then we thought."

"Whaddya mean?" Alec queried.

"She sent an X6 and from what Casey said, there's only three or four transgenics in the pack over the age of twenty-four." Max gripped Kell's skull and pushed it down slightly to get a better view of his bar code, "Not to mention that the prisoners Bren abducted are all in the age bracket of 13 to 19."

Alec sucked in a disgusted breath, "Pschyo Queen likes'em young, I take it."

"Yeah well," Max snorted wryly, "Ain't gonna be no under-21s in the National Transgenic Offenders Institute for Bren to footsie with."

"Or in hell, which is where the bitch is goin' if I have anything to say about it." Alec replied in a quiet, gravely voice which caused a small twinge of concern to awaken in Max's stomach. "She'd just better have kept her paws off o' Brac."

Max's jaw locked at the nerve-wrenching idea. Even just the very thought of it had her fist clenching tightly into itself.

"I gotta go."

"Okay I'll catch you on the runway still, right?"

"Sure thing. Be careful, Alec."

"Look who's talkin'."

Max's lips tightened, "Bye."

Kell was fully awake by now and squinting through the harsh lump on his forehead to glare up at Max.

"The hell are you doing?"

"Let's get something straight from the beginning." She informed him tightly, "Round here, _I'm_ the one who asks the questions. You're the one who keeps your mouth shut unless you're givin' me an answer. You got that?"

Kell snorted, "Go to hell, Guevara."

Max raised an eyebrow. With the high-profile media hype continually overshadowing her and Alec, it no longer fazed them to be recognized. Still, the kid had just been smacked into la-la land. Max had give Kell credit for how quickly his brain had resumed functioning.

What she didn't have to give him credit for was his attitude.

"Oh I'm not going anywhere." Max stated coolly as she began to walk slowly full-circle around the chair, "You on the other hand – multiple counts of aiding in conspiracy to kidnap not mention personally assisting said kidnap, and oh…" Max shook her finger, "almost forgot: there's also attempted murder to add to the list." She smiled sweetly, "Though personally I think it's gonna _top_ the list and seriously rack up the years on your sentencing."

Kell merely returned Max's grin, "I ain't afraid o' TOI, Guevara. Your little 'correctional facility' in Idaho is full o' people just like me."

Max's eyebrows arched as he continued.

"Transgenics who remember how it was, how we used to be feared and respected, who remember how far we've fallen under the reign of Manticore's two most flawless creations ever." Kell's eyes narrowed but remained fixated on Max as he shook his head, "It's a shame. If you hadn't wasted 493 in cold blood, trangenics might actually have a nation instead of a proverbial Gaza strip."

"And now you're hoping my son's gonna reincarnate Ben and wave your magic wand? Well I've got news for you." Max snapped coolly, tilting her head to pin Kell with hard brown eyes, "Brac will never be one of you."

"Oh he already is." Kell responded with an icy sneer, "Or he will be."

"I don't think so." Max responded, and he outright laughed this time around.

"Why, because you raised him not to?" Kell shook his head and continued to laugh. Suddenly Max's fingers were clamped around his windpipe and all his air reserves left his body as she ploughed a fist into his solar plexus.

"Because you're gonna tell me where you have my son," Max hissed between gritted teeth as she tightened her stranglehold on Kell's trachea, "or I'm gonna personally see to it that you get bunked down in the homo section of the nomalie wing for your bout in TOI – and don't think I'm messing with you."

Max watched as Kell's eyes went wide with fear. She had figured that a staple trait of a Ben-worship cultist would be the paranoid terror that her brother had always manifested towards nomalies. If Kell couldn't be bullied or intimidated – he could be threatened.

Max shoved Kell's throat away and straightened as he coughed and inhaled deeply, eyes remaining wide though spiteful as he glared up at Max.

She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "So what's it gonna be?"

"Remind me when all o' this is cleaned up to make a whole new mess of Johnston's face!" Max yelled over the hum of the helicopter in which she and Alec were seated.

"I would if I thought you actually needed reminding!" Alec responded, turning to wave at the second chopper that was keeping time with theirs.

"So, you sure about these guys?" Max cast the compact medical chopper a dubious scowl of disapproval.

Thankfully, the gesture meant Max missed Alec's patent eye-roll.

"Yeah Max, I'm sure about'em, okay? Are you sure about the information Kell gave you on Bren's latest bounce?"

She didn't miss the frustrated undercurrent in his voice, though.

"Sure as I can be. You shoulda seen the look the kid got in his eyes when I threatened him with nomalie-buggering." Max chortled quietly, and Alec cleared his throat loudly, clearly still annoyed.

"Would you give it a rest, Alec?" Max raised her voice to make herself heard, "You know this has nothing to do with me dissing your connections…"

"Oh wait," Alec held up a finger in a mock-petulant manner, "now they're 'my connections'? An hour ago, they were 'my ex-pat groupie buddies'!"

Max raised her eyebrows, "Well cut me some slack, Alec! The guys are covered in tattoos head to foot and talked specifics regarding their 'military expertise' for a grand total of 64 seconds!"

He cast her a knowing look in response, "You know our bar codes _do_ come under the classification of…"

"My point was," Max cast the roof a weary glance before returning her gaze to Alec, "these guys are obviously used to operating under the counter…"

"Yeah, which is a plus for us in this case." Alec reminded her with a raise of his eyebrows as he began to assemble a semi-automatic gun with calculated precision. "The Harper bros might be two walkin' eye sores, but they know their shit. They did time with a butt-load o' aviators from as far back as the Gulf war…"

"I know, I know. We went through all this before!" Max snorted as she counted out clips and halved them between hers and Alec's separate trove of weapons. "Do you really think I woulda agreed to this if they hadn't pressed all the right buttons?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa.," Alec glanced up from his gun to cast Max a critical eye, "what's this 'pressin' buttons' stuff?"

"What can I say?" She smiled benignly (even after fourteen years, Max still secretly enjoyed her Golden-boy's protective nature…just a little bit) "I have this thing for guys with tattoos…and what's his name, Harvey, the one with the Mohican?" Max's smile widened as Alec's handsome face puckered into a sour grimace, "He's got this one of a horse hanging from a noose…I think it's suggestive of…"

"Eeyeah, okay, have you uh got any extra rounds for a .44?" Alec's less-then-subtle change of subject had Max smirking and restraining a snicker of triumph. She shook her head and reached into her pack, handing her mate the item in question with an obliging grin.

Alec took the clip, pretending to ignore the beaming smirk on Max's face only to react by rolling his eyes and smacking her playfully over the head.

"Evil woman."

Max laughed out loud in response, but the sound was nervous and full of apprehension at the upcoming skirmish which was soon to ensue.

Alec caught the undercurrent and held Max in his line of vision as she put the finishing touches on one of her guns.

"Hey." He nudged her gently, and she issued an 'mm hmm' in response as she squinted down the aim-scope of the weapon.

"You nervous?"

"Nope." Max replied staunchly.

"Right." Alec sniffed matter-of-factly, looking briefly at the handgun in his grip before staring grimly at the winter fog through which the helicopter was plunging. Max's methodical assembling paused and she glanced up as Alec rested a hand on her knee and squeezed it briefly.

"I'm fine." Max assured him with a heavy sigh, taking Alec's leather-clad in her own and resting her eyes on the windscreen, "I'm just afraid they're gonna dig another trench before we get there." She stole a glance at him from the corner of her eye, "I just want him back in one piece, Alec. Even if it means the whole damn gang of'em get lost in the action."

Alec's face remained impassive, but Max distinctly heard him suck in a breath at her sentiment. She drummed her fingers against his knuckles and eyed him full-on, the need to know that Alec was prepared to give revenge a miss if it meant a casualty-free rescue clear on her face.

After a full minute under Max's quiet (and unrelenting) stare, Alec patted her knee one last time before returning his hand to the hilt of his gun.

"We'll get him back, Maxie, don't sweat it."

"Alec, please." She muttered tightly, keeping her grip on his hand tight and gazing at the floor with a clenched jaw.

He blew out a huff of frustrated acquiescence. "Fine. You win. If we have to let'em past our nets to get Brac out in one piece, that's one thing." He raised his eyebrows at her and stabbed a finger at her chest, "But there's no stipulation on huntin' the bastards down once Brac's safe and sound."

Max grinned dangerously and shook the end of his finger, "Deal."

Mole cocked his gun at the sound of a faint rustling in the bushes to his left. The lizard-faced nomalie ground his jaw as he treaded softly on the dead winter leaves carpeting the forest floor.

Mole had been tracking his prey for almost a full four hours now, and knew he had to be getting close. Every now and then, an almost imperceptible whisper of movement would give credence to the fact that he was indeed still on the trail of a living, moving entity – likely, by the prints scattered fleetingly around, more then one.

The primary teller spicing the trail Mole was stalking was the occasional appearance of bloodstains smeared on leaves, the ground and the occasional tree branch. It was only a faint lead, but it was hot and it was something.

To top it off, Mole could smell transgenic in the air and as he continued to press towards a trickling forest stream winding through the wood…Mole's enhanced sense of smell caught a whiff of something that made his heart rate quicken.

Mole and Joshua were practically the closest thing to uncles that Brac and Nyx had, and Mole would be damned if he didn't know his proverbial nephew's scent when he smelt it.

It meant he was close – _real_ close.

Mole raised his gun at a movement in the bushes beside the stream, bracing himself for an attack. He sighed in annoyed relief as Joshua appeared through the foliage, evidently having tracked down Brac's scent himself.

"God_damn_," Mole snarled quietly, and Joshua shrugged off the snarky remark with a disjointed growl of his own.

"Can you smell it?" He nodded towards the stream, "They've headed downstream. Not far now."

"You think?" Mole carefully worked his way down the bank, motioning for Joshua to follow. Moments later he stopped dead in his tracks, causing Joshua to all but bump into his back.

"Careful!" Joshua remonstrated in a tight tone which had never matched the nomalie's docile, caring nature but which he had employed more then once over the past few months.

"Shaddup." Mole snapped in a hissed whisper, holding a finger to his lips before moving it in the direction of a small hollow in the cleft face of the rock down the stream was gushing.

Joshua nodded and pressed ahead beside his friend, their sawed-offs at the ready, boots sloshing quietly through the water as they veered into the stream and into the domed entrance of the cave.


	23. Chapter 23

_I want to apologize for the massive delays this book has been facing recently. It isn't due to lack of inspiration – your smashing reviews and a steady flow of ideas have me chomping at the bit to continue with it! Over the last weekend I was on a youth counseling road trip across the country which bled into Monday, then on Tuesday I had to babysit for a friend and only just got home a few hours ago- and in a few hours I leave on another weekend counseling trip. It's been MAD. But I dragged my laptop along and between the preschool art lessons, I managed to type up almost the equivalent of a whole new chapter while babysitting which GOT WIPED. Yes. Wiped._

_So now I'm less then pleased..._

_But I'm going to type furiously for the remaining hours I have before leaving for the road to try and come up with SOMETHING for all the anxious readers hanging on a cliff...myself included! Sorry for the delay - please continue to bear with me! (P.S This is it until Monday at the earliest due to this next road trip. Humble apologies…but please be kind leave long, in-depth, detailed reviews despite my comparatively stubby chapter). _

_**-- Tyler**_

Bren's head shot up at the faint echoing of boots sloshing through the stream trickling through the cave, and her hand instinctively clamped down tighter over the rag gagging Brac's mouth.

"Keep him quiet!" She hissed to Eice, who was wrapping his tree-trunk arms around the teenager in an effort to suppress the beginning stages of a convulsive fit that was rising up in the boy.

"If he doesn't get some blood in him and fast," Eice snapped in a whispered retort, "we're all good as dead anyway! His parents would have every state in America swept with a fine tooth comb before we make it outta here if this kid packs it in…"

"Shut up, damn you!" Bren clamped a hand tighter over Brac's mouth as he let out a muffled groan from the hallucinations that were plaguing him. Bren shot Eice a look and he nodded, reaching into his pack and producing a grenade as the quiet footsteps came to a halt further down the cave.

Joshua stopped dead in his tracks and nodded at Mole, who raised an eyebrow quizzically. The dog-faced nomalie stabbed a finger in the direction of a narrow hollow wending its way downstream back down the ground they'd just covered.

Mole sighed and cocked his gun heading determinedly into the tunnel with Joshua at his heels, both nomalies keeping their weapons trained tightly ahead of them and their eyes darting purposefully from side to side.

Bren licked her dry lips as she watched Eice ready the grenade, then leant over Brac's twitching frame.

The boy looked up at the cold eyes only inches from his own, bleary orbs as Bren smiled acidly at him.

"Make on more sound," she whispered at an almost inaudible pitch, "and your friends go home in pieces."

He squinted in confusion, beads of sweat coursing down his cold, clammy skin before his head jerked and Bren flew with the full force of the clumsy yet powerful head butt to bash against the rocks.

Mole's eyes widened at the clearly audible sound and he motioned to Joshua, who grit his teeth and quickened his pace. The two had nearly reached a foreboding bend in the tunnel when a faint click reached Mole's ears and he turned, grabbing Joshua's collar and charging back down the passageway at full speed.

The nomalies cleared the tunnel in a flying, side-angled leap that landed them on their stomachs in the water…and sent the flush of exploding flames licking past their feet to scorch the wall behind them.

Bren blew out an indignant breath as she felt the hot trickle of blood oozing down the left side of her face from the rocks. She touched the gash and drew her fingers in front of her, eying the thick red liquid on her fingertips before lunging at Brac in a flying rage.

Eice's arm was there to knock the woman back onto her rump.

"Take it easy!" He hissed, and Bren seethed, glaring at him before focusing the full brunt of her ire at Brac.

"If you ever, _ever_ pull a stunt like that again…" She began with a jab of her bloodied finger in his direction.

"Quiet!" Eice ordered, evidently at breaking point with his depraved partner-in-crime, "We don't know that they're down yet, so until then, just keep things cool, okay?"

"May I remind you who is in charge of this endeavor?" Bren snapped as she leant in to invade Eice's personal space in a manner the male X5 vehemently detested.

"Know what?" Eice spat out his reply, "This has gone _way_ past being an 'endeavor'. Now this is about _life_ or _death_, or _worse_, and personally, I choose _life_! So unless you got a whole load o' AKs tucked away somewhere, we're down to two freaking guns. This is all down to _muscle_ – _your_ muscle and _my_ muscle; and _wasting_ our strength on the only bargaining chip we have right now is not only stupid, it's _inane_!"

Bren's face flushed red but she drew back and instead fixed the passage corner with a glare. "One of us should go and check they're dead." She muttered in defeat.

Eice shook his head, "Not yet. Give it another minute."

"Take us down there NOW!"

The sudden yell from his mate caused Alec to move beside Max and look out the window of their chopper at the road leading out from Bren's container. Kell's intel had confirmed the gang departed and their route as being the main (and only) road around.

Max and Alec had been prepared for as many hours of slugging through the woods with a fine tooth comb it took to find and apprehend the runaways…but they were completely unprepared for the sight that greeted their eyes as the helicopter made a hasty landing.

The X5s were out of the chopper before it even touched the ground – ground which they hit running as they charged towards the scene before them.

"Holy mother of…" Alec let out a breath of disbelief at the sight of a pack of disheveled teenagers joining ranks with a number of pure, Manticore-grown nomalies to roll two large, white vans back onto the road.

Max stepped over a vicious nail line still impaling shreds of tire and felt her mouth drop open at the row of bodies on the ground, most with their hands cuffed behind their heads (although one or two seemed to be unconscious and were being prepped for moving).

"Dix?" Max breathed in utter bewilderment as her one-eyed nomalie compadre turned from his position as sentry over the captive transgenics to nod calmly at her.

"Oh hey Max. Just in the nick o' time here, aren't ya?"

Her eyes widened dangerously as she crossed the space between them to scowl at the man, "What the hell is going on here? What have you done?"

"Just a friendly lil' ambush," Dix shrugged unapologetically, "you know, a little 'aggressive negotiating' or whatever you wanna call it."

"Yeah you have no idea what the hell I wanna _call_ this, Dix." Alec was beside Max now, eyes narrowed and jaw set with blazing anger, "Cuz lemme tell you somethin', you are _not_ gonna like my choice o' words…"

Dix sighed heavily, "Alec, calm down…"

"WHERE THE HELL IS MY SON?" Alec yelled in complete defiance of Dix attempts to keep a lid on the situation as he gripped the nomalie's jacket tightly, "I swear to you, if he got caught in the crossfire, so help me god, I'll…"

"ALEC!" Dix screamed over the X5's threatening to make himself heard, "He's fine!"

"Where is he?" Alec repeated staunchly, and Max's eyes were already sweeping the scene for any signs of her son.

"Well he's not exactly _fine_, per se." Dix continued reasonably, "His van got through the barricade and lurched off the road into the forest. Josh and Mole are tailin' it – they'll probably call in it anytime now."

"Which way?" Max queried rigidly.

"South - just follow the _tracks_, I mean it's anything but a blind lead…"

Dix's words failed to reach Max or Alec's ears after that. The X5s were already tearing through the forest on the still-warm trail of their son.

Joshua's head was the first to slowly rise as he gingerly opened one eye and then the other, throwing a cursory glance around. He raised himself up onto his palms in the freezing water as he caught sight of the smoky haze and random infant fires licking angrily at the shrubby on the cave walls.

Joshua's eyes went wide with disbelief and shock in the way they always had - a way that never failed to melt Max and Alec's hearts and subsequently tended to work greatly in the nomalie's favor. It was especially effective at getting Joshua out of trouble with the X5 couple, and at one point Brac had even offered his 'uncle' three month's worth of paint in exchange for lessons.

Of course, that had been back when Brac was ten and still manifesting signs of caring about Max and Alec's approval.

Brac…

Joshua's eyes narrowed. Brac was still in the cave somewhere, bleeding and sick, injured and cold…and in the hands of the bastards who had just tried to blow him and Mole out of their boots.

With a barely-audible growl, Joshua bared his teeth and rose to his feet, ignoring the cold that seeped in through his soaking wet clothing as he hauled Mole to his feet.

Then he was off, tearing down the tunnel at breakneck speed, his now-useless gun waving dangerously in front of him, and his lizard-headed friend directly on his tail.

Eice held a finger to his lips and then stabbed it in the direction of the corner as the sound of unabashed running cam to the fore.

Bren sneered, "Let'em come. Their guns are useless now and they're likely injured."

Eice raised an eyebrow as he propped a shaking Brac up against the side of the rock-face and stood up, "You sure you wanna take that risk? Cuz we don't know that, Bren…"

"It doesn't _need_ to be a risk." Bren snapped in response with a snide smile as she rose to her feet. "We'll break their fucking necks regardless."

Brac blinked back tears as he fought desperately to gain even a smidgeon of control over his body. The racking awareness of what was taking place had his heart caught in his throat.

_I'm potentially minutes away from being rescued_… He cried out in pain through the muffle of his gag as Bren hauled him and shoved him roughly into a small crevice barely large enough for his quickly-growing frame.

_Josh and Mole are right around that freaking corner, and I'm too weak to do a damn thing to help them. _Brac watched through his blurry, bloodshot eyes as Bren pulled out a handgun from the waistband of her jeans and Eice readied another grenade.

_If Josh and Mole come tearing round that corner, they'll get blasted before they even get a decent shot._ Brac shuddered with violent cold from the dampness of the hollow as he took in the sight of Bren and Eice's backs tense in anticipation.

After a few minutes of tense, nerve-wrecking silence, Bren turned to her accomplice with tight lips.

Eice shrugged, clearly reading the expression and waving a resigning hand in the direction of the tunnel.

Brac watched as Bren nodded and flicked off the safety on her gun, inching her way in silent, feline movements around the corner of the passageway, Eice slowly on her heels.

The moment the X5s were out of sight, Brac worked feverishly to pry against the bands constricting his wrists behind his back. They were already ridiculously tight and cut into his skin, but Brac's body had gone numb a long time ago – a fact which posed a serious threat to his safety as he could no longer feel his nerves screaming out a warning as fresh blood (blood Brac couldn't afford to lose) trickled down his hands from the pulling against his bonds.

A sudden splashing noise and the sound of a scuffle assaulted Brac's ears and he glanced up, doing his best to worm his way into a position that afforded him a better view in the cramped hole.

As he did so, Brac felt his shoulder pull at an incredibly awkward angle and a sickening _pop_ reverberated through his left arm. He bit his lip and, still shivering violently, twisted to glance at his arm only to realize that in his struggling, Brac had apparently dislocated his shoulder – badly.

He burst into tears and rested his forehead against the wall in devastated defeat, fresh sobs overwhelming him as muffled shouts (and a roar which was unmistakably Joshua's) and the sound of a gun going off filled his ears.

_Mom and Dad, where the hell are you guys?_

_I'm scared…I'm so damn freaking scared…_

Mole leapt down from where he had been bracing himself flat against the lumpy cave roof to fall directly onto Bren, effectively tackling the skinny woman to the ground and causing her gun to fire a round.

A tall, well-built male came charging into the fray at that precise moment, but was intercepted by the bludgeon of Joshua's sawed-off smashing against his head and sending him crashing into the wall. Joshua moved quickly, overcome with rage and anger as he snatched up the X5 before Eice had a chance to recover and threw him headlong into the opposite wall with a roar.

Bren's thin, deadly strong fingers gripped Mole's arm and flipped him in a somersault over her shoulder in the sloshing water around them. He landed on his back and sent a kick her way, but she rolled with the blow and used it to land on her heels. Mole dove to the side just in time to avoid another bullet from Bren's gun, blurring with unimaginable speed in an effort to survive the hail of gunfire Bren was now raining at him inside the narrow tunnel.

The logical thing would have been to make a run for it and draw Bren and Eice out into the larger section of the cave to afford for more maneuverability. But Joshua and Mole had opted for taking them out in the tiny enclosed space of the passageway: less room meant less chances…and the nomalies didn't want to take _any_ with Brac's life if they could help it.

Mole was mercifully spared any further barrage from the bullets as Joshua, en route to attack the fallen Eice, grabbed Bren's gun-arm from behind her and twisted it fully around. The force of the move was enough to cause Bren's body to follow her right arm, and she was unceremoniously flipped onto her stomach as Joshua wrested the gun from her hand and threw in a powerful slug to the jaw for good measure.

Mole rose to his feet and dove atop Bren once more as Joshua barrel-tackled Eice into the water. The lizard worked quickly to add a second and third punch into the mix, getting in two good strikes at Bren's face before she shrieked angrily and clamped her knees around Mole's waist, rolling violently over and pinning him beneath her. Icy water filled Mole's ears as he was repeatedly punched and then head-butted before Bren fumbled for her gun in the stream, evidently intent on smashing the butt of it into Mole's skull.

A howl of indignation from Joshua echoed through the cave as Eice stepped back from where he had plunged a switchblade into the nomalie's side as part of a desperate, clumsy maneuver to keep the much larger transgenic from literally smashing his face in.

Eice delivered a vicious roundhouse kick to Joshua's injured left ribcage and then dropped to the ground, scissoring his legs and knocking Joshua's out from under him.

Mole blocked another incoming slug from Bren a the woman continued to batter him relentlessly, her wiry frame still possessing the lethal strength of the Manticore transgenic as she slammed her sharp elbow into the nook of Mole's neck. He coughed and spasmed as he gripped Bren's bicep and hurled her off him, sitting up and diving onto the woman with all-out rage. Bren rolled over from where she had been face-down in the water, whipping around to land a mean blow across Mole's temple with the butt of her handgun which she had somehow come across in the stream.

His head spun clear around but he reacted quickly, grabbing Bren's wrist as she came in with the gun for a second round only to have her other fist lob the side of his head repeatedly.

Mole twisted Bren's gun hand with tenacious force, throwing the full weight of his body into the move and causing Bren to let out a shriek of pain as she fell on her side.

Joshua stumbled back from Eice's onslaught and managed to get back on his feet just as the X5 came in for another round, swiping a powerful fist which was dodged…but the left hook wasn't. Eice failed to avoid both blows and the force of Joshua's strength had him flat on his back in the water.

Joshua's hands were on Eice's shirt in a second, lifting him out of the water and tossing him against the rocky wall opposite the passageway. Eice's head connected with the hard stone and he slumped, motionless, into the water.

Joshua, breathing heavily and resting a hand on the wall for support, gingerly felt the knife in his side and began to extract it. Behind him he could hear the sound of Bren and Mole still in the throes of a vicious fight that seemed to swing to both sides of the camp at any given moment.

The plan had been that the moment one of them was out of harm's way, that individual would search out Brac – no ifs, ands or buts about it. Joshua desperately wanted to assist Mole, but he knew what the plan was and had the discipline to stick to it.

He just had to get the damn switchblade out of his ribcage first.

As he finished easing the knife out of his side, Joshua's head shot up at the wall where Eice had been lying unconscious…

Keyword: _had_...

Joshua panicked and moved hastily out of the tunnel only to see that Eice had dragged himself to the entrance of the cave…and had just pulled the pin out of a grenade.

Joshua locked eyes with Eice as the man hurled the grenade in his direction. The nomalie turned and dove back into the tunnel, landing smack dab in the middle of Bren and Mole's tousle as the explosion rocked the cave, sending blast of fire and debris rushing past the tunnel's entrance – and inside.

Peace reigned for a moment as all three transgenics threw their hands over their heads to protect themselves from the onslaught of smoking rock fragments that were flying around them. Then a portion of the tunnel's roof collapsed, covering them in a shower of heavy rocks.

Silence was monarch of the moment for the next five minutes before there was a stirring in the rubble.

Bren, covered in dust and soot and choking on the smoke in the air, dragged herself out from underneath the rocks, her left arm hanging limp by her side and a gaping hole in the back of her sweater from which blood poured in droves.

She hacked and vomited briefly into the stream as she propped herself up on her good hand and spat blood, eyes gleaming as she inched her way around the bend to where her captive's deep-throated sobs were now to be heard.

A hand clamping on her ankle caused Bren to whirl her head around. Mole, half-buried in the rubble, gripped the woman's leg tightly and yanked with all his might, causing her to collapse into the water once more.

Bren screamed irately and rolled onto her back, slamming her boot into Mole's face repeatedly, instantly loosening his grip on her leg and sending him into unconsciousness.

Bren pressed onward once more, crawling through the stream and into the hollow where she and Eice had left their catch. Sure enough, Brac was right where they had left him, squished into the pint-sized cavity in the rock-face, hunched over and not making a sound.

That caused a frown to crease Bren's features. She was certain she'd heard him crying only moments before.

"Brackie-boy…" Bren crooned through a dry throat as she moved on her knees to the crevice, stopping on her way to pick up a hefty rock as she did so. "Your friends broke the terms, sweetcakes." Bren spat another wad of blood as she pulled herself into a standing position, leaning heavily on the wall for support as she loomed over Brac's huddled frame.

"So I guess this is where you and I say our goodbyes." Bren licked her bleeding lips and smiled as she raised an eyebrow at the bleary but ruthlessly defiant eyes that suddenly whipped up to meet her own.

"I'd offer to break your neck like I promised your Mommy and Daddy but…" Bren shrugged as she hoisted the rock into the air above her head, "there isn't a whole lot of room in there for me to work with."

Brac was still shaking violently, his body doubled over inside the hollow and his head pressed against the wall in front of him. Blood poured from the gashes in his bound wrists and trickled down the back of his shirt, and his face was pasty white with dark, almost red circles beneath his bloodshot green eyes.

Eyes that were somehow lucid enough to flash virulence in its pure, undiluted form at the crazed X5 woman who leered over Brac.

His cracking lips moved to force out a hoarse, whispered statement.

"You didn't make me one of you." Brac heaved in deep breaths through his nose as he continued to shiver but maintained eye contact with Bren, "You didn't make me _him_."

Bren narrowed her eyes and fingered the rock in her hand as Brac continued.

"Translation…" He closed his eyes briefly and squinted as tears rolled from underneath his eyelids – eyelids which flashed open once again.

"…I win…you stupid…fucking…bitch."

The words took every bit of effort Brac McDowell had inside of him. But they had the desired effect. Bren went completely silent and her mouth hung open in unbridled, floored antagonism.

It was a brief moment of revenge – but since Brac figured these to be the last waking moments of his life on earth, the sight of the woman who had inflicted a torturous existence on him over the past month standing like a moron in complete, speechless rage (red face and all) made it well worth the effort for Brac.

The moment, as aforementioned, was short-lived.

"Newsflash here, baby." Bren sneered as she leant in closer to talk in Brac's ear, "just a little something to send you off with: your friends are dead. Your parents have failed you. I've sucked your blood and pumped it into the veins of the future transgenic martial law. You'll be aiding your parents' downfall." She smiled and licked the ridge of Brac's ear as she whispered the next line, "So before I smash your skull in with a piece of _rock_ and you die alone, trapped and afraid…let's just get one thing straight. _I_ win. _Not_ you."

Suddenly, a pair of tight, strong arms wrapped around Bren and she found herself being thrown a good ten feet through the air.

Splashing into the water and having narrowly missed hitting the wall, Bren growled in disbelief at the sight of the woman who had just tossed her aside like a broken toy.

It was X5 - 452.

And the tall, lethally handsome man running into the hollow and directly to Brac's side, was X5 – 494.

Bren let out another snarl of disbelief.

Great. Just fucking great.

Killing Brac was going to take a little longer then planned.


	24. Chapter 24

Max turned her back on the battered woman lying sprawled in the water very briefly – just long enough to get a better look at Brac.

She sucked in a breath sharply to prevent herself from crying out at the sight of her son – Brac's ghostly-white, clammy skin, his dry, pale lips, the blood-shot, bleary eyes that stared up at his father from long strands of hair stuck together with filth and sweat.

Brac was bleeding from more places then just his wrists, and the angle of his shoulder cried severe dislocation.

But he was alive.

Brac's eyes were dazed and gazing detachedly at Alec as the man entered the cave and rushed to his side.

"Brac!" Alec's call was sharp and clear as he bent down to eye level and reached inside the hollow to touch his son, "_Brac_!"

The previously incommunicado boy jerked at his father's touch and the façade of bravado Brac had been wearing crumbled the instant he saw Alec. Brac promptly burst into a heavy flood of tears, sobbing so violently that Alec was terrified he would choke in his fragile state.

"Shh shh shh…Brac, look at me, it's okay, it's _okay_!" Alec softened his tone as best he could, but the frantic worry in his voice still broke through as his eyes ran a full assessment on the damage to his son.

"D…" Brac began but a sudden, desperate inhale which sounded hollow drowned his speech in a panicked gasp for air that wasn't coming.

"Easy, _easy_!" Alec insisted, tilting his son's chin upwards with one hand while feeling underneath Brac's jacket with the other to determine the source of the problem.

"Just deep breaths, Brac, deep breaths- c'mon, you can do it." Alec was anxious to move Brac out of the tiny cavity as it was clearly contributing to his anguish. At the same, Alec was wary that any sort of sudden movement might cause Brac to hyperventilate even further.

Brac appeared to be calming somewhat as Alec continued to reassure him and encourage him to breathe. His ice-cold fingers clung to Alec's warm ones limply as the X5 finished the sweep of his torso and concluded with relief that all appeared to be well.

The knowledge that Brac's air deprivation was likely down to chronic shock of some kind did little to ease Alec's pulsating anxiety. But it did simplify the problem greatly, and Alec took control of the situation based on that fact.

"Gonna get you outta here, alright? Hey!" Alec carefully but firmly maneuvered Brac's face to meet his own and commanded the attention of Brac's eyes with his tone, "Look at me, okay? You're gonna be alright now!" Alec smiled briefly in what he hoped was a reassuring manner as Brac's eyes widened and the boy forced a shaky nod, "We'll get you home, come on…"

Alec cringed slightly at the ugly dislocation that not even Brac's jacket successfully hid and carefully reach an arm around the boy's back, gripping his torso with the other hand and easing him out of the crevice. Mercifully, it wasn't that tight a fit, and a minute later Alec was cradling Brac in his arms and easing himself into a sitting position on the rocky ground.

"You're too late if you're hoping to save him."

Max raised a cold eyebrow at Bren, who had laboriously pulled herself into a standing position and was eyeing Brac with unbridled hate.

"He's already dead!" She continued ruthlessly with a sneer of triumph that evidently cost her no effort, "Kid's lost 30 percent of his blood and hasn't eaten in a week!"

"Yeah well trust me, after you get a sample of the prison food in TOI," Max stated in a frigid, acid tone that burned with deadly rage as she took a few notable steps closer, "you won't be eating either."

Bren snorted as she eyed Max up and down, "You're a cocky young bitch for someone whose son is signing out." She tossed the rock she was still clutching up and down in her palm with a sly smile, "Not to mention you'll be kissing the turf in a few minutes yourself, 452."

"When did he go into shock?" Max queried, unfazed as she continued to advance on the rake-thin woman before her, eyes half-lidded with danger.

"You're seriously considering…"

Max dove and tackled Bren back into the stream, landing atop the woman and snatching up the back of her hair. She shoved Bren's head underwater and held it steady despite the woman's violent thrashing for a full two minutes before yanking her out and slugging her across the face.

"You _bitch_!" Bren hissed and spat water mixed with blood, unable to summon her powers of resistance due to her severely injured state. Instead she swung out with the rock at Max, who grabbed her wrist and used it to twist her arm behind her back and send Bren head-first into the water once more.

As she hauled the fuming, cursing woman back out, Max punched Bren again, this time in the stomach which procured an audible groan of pain from the woman.

"How long has Brac's system been in shock?" Max yelled, grabbing Bren's collar and glaring with ferocious eyes at the twisted X5, "I swear if you don't tell me, I'll have you bunked in the nomalie psyche ward and I'll leave you there to rot! NOW ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!"

"Go to hell!" Bren shrieked, and Max responded by shoving her face back under the water.

Alec took in the sounds of the skirmish going on nearby as he held Brac tightly in his lap with one arm and rummaged through his pack with the other. Brac was shivering violently and his eyes had rolled back into his head as his entire body tensed rigidly in Alec's grasp in a way the X5 didn't like at all.

"Brac, stay with me, buddy!" Alec never stopped talking as he pulled out a long syringe and scooted back against the wall. He set Brac gently down into a sitting position and propped him up against the rockface as he rolled up his own sleeve and inserted the needle of the syringe into his vein.

"Come on, focus on me, stay awake. _BRAC_!" Alec yelled his son's name as the boy's eyes closed and he began to roll to the side. Brac jerked at the familiar tone of his father's command and his glazed emerald eyes fluttered weakly open.

"Do _not_ fall asleep, you understand me?" Alec quickly withdrew the now-full syringe from his arm and wrapped an arm around Brac, resting his son's head against his shoulder as he began to ease the sleeve on Brac's good arm upwards.

At the sight of the needle, Brac had a complete and sudden meltdown. He let out a strangled cry of terror and twisted violently away from the syringe the moment it came within proximity. Alec barely managed to prevent the delirious teen from smashing his face against a smatter of viciously sharp rocks as he swooped out an arm and caught Brac mid-fall.

"Easy, _easy_!" Alec persevered firmly as Brac continued to writhe in protest despite the fact that he was now securely gripped in the crook of the X5's strong arm.

"Get it away from me!" Brac yelled in a hoarse voice as tears streaked down his face and he struggled in Alec's grasp, "No please, _please_!" His anguished cries cut Alec's heart like a knife, "Please, no more, don't take any more…I can't…"

"Brac, stop, _stop it_!" Alec raised his voice as he momentarily dropped the syringe to cup the side of his son's head and hold it still, "Look at me! It's _Dad_, okay, it's me! I'm not gonna hurt you – I would never, _ever_ hurt you like that, Brac, alright? You have to believe me!"

"_They_ did!" Brac burst out into hitching sobs, eyes meeting Alec's as he ceased struggling. "…they came with needles, always needles…"

"I know, baby, okay? I know." Alec forced his voice and eyes to remain calm and compelling as he cupped his son's face in his hands and dipped his head, his thumbs brushing away the cascade of tears streaming down the filthy, ice-cold cheeks, "But you have to trust me on this one, alright? You need more blood in your body or you're gonna die…"

"No…" Brac shook his head fiercely as his eyes strayed to the dark crimson syringe on the ground beside Alec's knee.

"Yes!" Alec insisted adamantly, his tone as much as the urgency in his eyes commanding Brac's attention once more as the boy recommenced eye contact, "Now listen to me: I'm gonna put this needle into your arm for a few seconds, just a couple seconds, Brac," He soothed as his son shook his head in a panic, "then it'll be done and we'll get out of here, I promise."

"You don't promise!" Brac choked out, his shivering intensifying but his sobbing muting somewhat as Alec held him close and rested his chin atop Brac's mop of hair.

"Well I'm promising now." Alec stated as though that settled the matter, and fortunately Brac's inherent argumentative nature seemed to be appeased for the moment (greatly due to the fact that rational thought wasn't among the list of emergency bodily functions).

Brac let out a shuddering breath but allowed Alec to hike up his sleeve. Alec drew in a sharp breath and his eyes narrowed at the complete mess that greeted him. His lips pressed together tightly in alarm as he ran a fingertip over the protruding veins and assessed that a great deal of them had collapsed from abuse.

Brac let out a quiet, closed-mouth whimper of fear as Alec's fingers came in contact with his veins, and Alec quickly moved his hand down to squeeze Brac's own in brief reassurance while his eyes continued to search for a safe entrance.

"It's okay, baby." Alec whispered soothingly while his mind screamed at him that it was actually anything but.

The situation was far worse then he and Max had anticipated in that their primary objective upon finding Brac had been to perform an emergency blood transfusion. Brac's major arteries were suffering massive damage from overuse of syringes and other forms of extraction, and finding an uncollapsed vein to insert the needle into was proving to be a very dangerous task indeed.

And judging by the way Brac's head lolled about even in the crook of Alec's neck and the feeble shuddering of his breath, they were running out of time.

Alec's soldier mentality was the only saving grace that prevented the man's parental urges from going haywire by working hand-in-hand with said instincts to take control of the situation.

"Brac, stay _awake_!" Alec ordered, giving his son's good shoulder a shake as the boy began to drift into unconsciousness against his father's chest.

Brac mumbled incoherently and jolted from the shake as his eyes opened wearily and met with a determined pair of green ones staring severely into his own.

"You have to fight it, alright? You have to stay with me here. Come on, say something, talk to me." Alec kept a steady flow of talking as his hand searched for a usable vein and finally stumbled across a slightly firmer in the crevice of Brac's elbow.

"Can't…" Brac muttered through grit teeth, his heavy-lidded eyes suddenly wide with vacant fear as he stared down at the needle Alec carefully inserted into his vein. He gasped and began to pull his arm away instinctively, nearly causing the needle to tear a slit down the already fragile artery.

"Brac, _stop_ it!" Alec commanded with just a hint of begging in his tone as he clamped Brac tighter in his grip and quickly pressed the base of the syringe inward, sending a flow of life-giving blood into Brac's veins. "You need to calm down, okay? I'm _not_ going to hurt you…"

"Just gotta rest…" Brac murmured as his eyes rolled shut and his mouth began to hang open. His skin was clammy and ice-cold under Alec's touch and the fact that his shivering had suddenly subsided was, contrary to outward appearances, a very, _very_ bad sign.

"Whoa no, no, no!" Alec felt helpless as he waited for the syringe to drain its contents into Brac's system, his son's body beginning to sag against him. "Brac. BRAC!"

Brac let out a muffled response as his head drooped against Alec's chest.

"Brac, wake up and look at me NOW." Alec commanded in a loud, demanding tone that surfaced only in the face of danger and had Max glancing in terror over her shoulder from where she was still holding Bren's head beneath the water.

"It's too late!" Bren gasped as Max hauled her to the surface once more, her eyes blurry from lack of oxygen and her voice raspy but triumphant nonetheless, "You can't save him."

"Tell me how long he's been in shock and you might just save yourself!" Max replied between gritted teeth as she collared Bren and glared into her eyes.

"Are you still talking?" Bren hissed between gulps of air, and Max was tempted to slam her head back under the water when she realized that by the state of the severely injured woman, any further trauma to her body would likely kill Bren off.

"Actually no, I'm done." Max snapped, resigning herself to the fact that Bren wouldn't be any use to them dead. Proper investigation and examining the facts at a later date would expose the twisted X5's grand scheme to its bare bones soon enough. At present, however, Max concluded that there was no way Bren was getting off paying the full toll for her treatment of Brac by giving up the ghost.

Oh no. She would make a nice, full recovery to the bloom of health if Max and Alec had to say anything about it. One of those miraculous recuperations that left doctors shaking their heads and declaring the patient fit to live to a ripe old age of ninety.

Which easily mean fifty ripe years in the maximum security wing of TOI…

Max kept Bren pinned beneath her as she whipped out a pair of handcuffs and folded the woman's arms none too gently behind her back. Bren grunted in angry pain as Max gripped her wounded arm by the forearm and snapped the handcuffs into place over both wrists.

"There's nothing you can do for him!" Bren insisted in a high-pitched shriek as Max methodically cuffed her ankles together, "Your son's going down and so is this government!"

Max ignored Bren's volley of abuse as she knelt in the water beside her, instead placing a thick streak of grey duct tape across the woman's mouth and following it with another layer for good measure.

"Are you still talking?" Max snapped with a sarcastic roll of her eyes as she flicked some water into Bren's face before turning her back on her at the sound of Alec's indomitable insistence once more.

"Brac, come on, look at me, stay awake!" Alec had finished the blood transfusion and was now assessing the best means of picking Brac up without causing the injured boy any unnecessary physical trauma. Brac needed to be moved and fast, as he was beginning to lull into a state of unconsciousness which would likely prove fatal.

"Five more minutes…" Brac mumbled as his head drooped in Alec's grip, and the X5 laughed hollowly at the bitter irony of the hallucigenic remark.

"No, you have to wake up _now_, baby, okay?" He tucked an arm under Brac's knees and wrapped another around the small of his back as he prepared to stand. "Max!" Alec barked as she stood up from the squirming, captive figure of Bren in the water, "Get the Harpers in here and get Josh and Mole outta that rubble _now_!"

"What about Brac…"

"I'll take him! Just go!"

Max turned and disappeared around the bend without another word.

Alec breathed a worried snort after her retreating frame before realizing that Brac had gone absolutely silent.

"Brac? Brac!" Alec shook him as carefully as possible as he moved quickly through the stream, practically at a run, towards the grenade-chastised exit of the cave. "Don't give up on me!" He scolded as Brac's bleary green eyes cracked open to gaze at him, "You stay awake and you just look at me. You don't look at anything else, you don't close your eyes, you just look at me and you fight it, you understand?"

"Okay…" Brac muttered weakly, eyes already closing as he buried his face into the warm crook of Alec's neck only to be shaken again.

"No, _say_ it, say 'I'll stay awake'!" Alec insisted, jogging through the crumbling passage of the cave to the dusky haze of winter light at its mouth, "_Now_, Brac!"

"I cant…" Brac burst into tears once more, which was somewhat unexpected to Alec and caught the man off guard as his son sobbed with exhaustion, "You can't make me!"

"Oh I _can_ make you, Brac!" Alec assured him unwaveringly as they reached the exit and fresh, cold air rushed around them like a hurricane.

"Ah!" Brac's eyes squeezed tightly shut at the dim, grey sky and his face disappeared into Alec's jacket in protest at the light. Alec 'shh'ed' him comfortingly and rubbed the side of his face against Brac's head in fleeting reassurance as he ran up the embankment and onto the frosty, leaf-strewn forest ground.

"We're almost there, Brac. Almost there and then I promise you can sleep." Alec glanced up as the Harper's chopper flew over their heads, its legs brushing the tips of the trees as it prepared to land near the cave in its rescue mission.

Brac jumped and jolted in Alec's arms, his nostrils flaring at the noise of the propeller as his weak hand clutched the fabric of his father's coat in a worryingly tight fist.

"Dad…" He whimpered, and Alec recognized the tone immediately. It was the voice that never failed to transform his wily, obnoxious thirteen year-old right back into the frightened four year-old who was terrified of a Great Dane.

"It's alright, baby." Alec called over the noise of another chopper as he reached the top of a hill and the second helicopter came into view – right where they had left it and still spinning its wheels.

Alec blew out a breath of relief which quickly morphed into a sharp inhale of concern as Brac's breathing began to incline dramatically and his previously tense body went limp in Alec's grip.

"Hey!" Alec yelled, and Brac jolted awake once more with a deep gasp, eyes wide and blinking as he stared at the helicopter ahead of them.

"Can't do it!" Brac choked out between violent shuddering once more as steady, silent tears coursed down his cheeks.

"Yes you can," Alec countered sternly, pausing mid-gait to tilt Brac's chin up to face him, "And you will, because you are _not_ gonna quit on us like this, you hear me? Not now, not ever; we're not gonna let you!"

Brac's glassy eyes welled up with fresh tears but his lips pressed together tightly in determination as he stared into Alec's commanding eyes.

"Okay, Dad…" He whispered in a cracked voice as he lowered his gaze and tried to breathe steadily through the rabid shivering.

"This is one o' those rare times I'm gonna need a 'yes, sir' from you, Brac." Alec didn't let up, knowing full well that for all the disdain the X5 held for the term, it was one of the only things his son could say that could convince Alec of his sincerity.

"Yes, sir…" Brac mumbled through grit teeth as he clenched his fists tighter around Alec's jacket and continued to focus on controlling his breathing. The action was calming technique drilled into transgenics during training that would enable them to focus and clear their heads – as well as retain a grip on their bodies if injury were to occur.

Alec was overwhelmed with relief at the steady pitch of Brac's breath tingling the bare skin on his neck as he clutched his son tighter and approached the helicopter. The pilot jumped out of his cockpit and rushed to the passenger door to help Alec with his precious cargo.

"How's he doing?" Tank yelled over the blare of the propeller as he hauled Alec into the chopper and followed him inside to the emergency bed that lay in wait at the far end of the bird.

"Hypovolemic shock," Alec responded, eyes narrowed in concentration as he bent down and eased Brac onto the bed, "Pretty much what we figured, only worse. I don't know how long he's been this way."

"We gotta get a drip on him and fast!" Tank deduced, already prepping an IV for use while casting fleeting, worried glances at the sudden panic attack that seized Brac the moment Alec lowered him onto the bed.

"No, _no_!" Brac screamed out and thrashed around, not calming even as Alec held him down to prevent the kid from doing himself an injury in his highly-critical state.

"Brac, calm down! It's okay!" Alec insisted soothingly, confusion gripping him at the sight of massive tears rolling down his son's filthy face from eyes that stared up at him in bloodshot fear. "I've got you, baby, everything's gonna be alright. What's wrong?"

"Don't put me on the bed!" Brac begged between heaving breaths, and Alec kicked himself as he recalled Casey's testament to Brac's captive conditions. "Please, Dad, don't put me back there…I won't do it again, I swear, I swear…"

The words cut bone-deep. Alec slumped back with a stricken face and for a moment almost let go of Brac's struggling limbs. Tank, recognizing the expression his friend was wearing, quickly stepped in and brushed a hand across Brac's pallid forehead to move the sticky strands of hair from his eyes as he knelt beside him.

"Brac, you're not there anymore, do you understand me? You're not with Bren." Tank's deep rumble had always born a striking resemblance to Alec's and subsequently worked like a charm to calm the boy down somewhat as Brac stared up into his eyes, "You're with _us_ now, okay? We got you outta there and now we're gonna take care o' you, alright?"

Brac bit his lip, still crying, but now somewhat more subdued as he relaxed under the soothing threading of Tank's fingers through his hair and sank into the bed.

"You're not real." He muttered in a small voice that completely didn't suit his 5'8 frame, his connection with the firm mattress seeming to ground him in the world that had been his reality for the past month.

Tank's brow furrowed at that and his lips pressed tightly together in alarm, but he didn't push the issue. Instead he fell in time with Alec, who was busily hooking up a medical plastic full of blood (pure, untainted X5 blood…his own and Max's in fact) to a drip and feeding out the IV needle.

"Alec…" Tank began, but the X5 cut him off as he purposefully went about his task, eyes trained to the job at hand.

"Most o' the main arteries on his arms have collapsed. There's a good one in his right elbow – help me get this in and then take off, get us outta here." Alec's voice was crisp and authorative as he readied the needle-tip for insertion.

"Max alright?" Tank queried, cautious about the brusque commando nature that had now overpowered Alec fully as he gently lifted Brac's sleeve and tapped the vein in question to ensure its reliability.

"She's fine - she's with Josh and Mole, the Harpers'll take care of'em." Alec replied briskly as he carefully yet methodically pricked the needle into Brac's vein.

His son squirmed and let out a moan of distress, jerking away and nearly causing the needle to tear a slit down his already-unstable vein.

"Brac, stop that." Alec ordered, gripping his son's elbow tighter with one hand while taping the IV securely into place with the other. The lanky teenager let out hissing gasp and clenched his jaw tightly, glaring down at the IV as he attempted to pull away once more.

"Look, you're gonna tear a vein! You've gotta stop it, alright?" Alec barked in visible frustration that caused Brac to flinch, "NOW!"

Tank's eyes narrowed further and he rubbed a gloved hand over his stubbly jaw in concern as he watched Brac's eyes fill with resigned tears and the youth cease his struggling with a petulant 'you're not real'…

"Yeah whatever. You can say that to my belt once you're outta recoup if you keep up with the tryin' to kill yourself. See if it'll work."

Alec's matter-of-fact response had Tank instantly on edge. He didn't know what the hell was wrong, but he knew this wasn't Alec – his friend, Max's partner, Nyx and Brac's dad, Joshua's medium fella.

No, this was X5-494 – his squad partner and field pairing for years, the soldier who executed orders with an original blend of sarcasm and ruthless precision that had made 494 walk head and shoulder above his fellows in Manticore's bygone years.

Tank sighed inwardly as he headed to the cockpit, loathe to leave Alec alone with Brac in such a state but having no other option. He girt his teeth from beneath closed lips as he thrummed the chopper's throttle forward and lifted them off the ground, the worrying image of Alec's normally vibrant green eyes now stony and matter-of-fact hovering in his mind.

Alec only morphed this drastically when something excruciatingly traumatic overtook him and he had no idea how to cope. It was an inbuilt mechanism the X5 shared with Max and a great deal of Manticore's original transgenic offspring.

And, Tank deduced with concern as he maneuvered the helicopter over the treetops and towards Wisconsin's specialist hospital where the McDowell family doctor was already in wait, it was bringing the angst level of the entire situation to a whole new notch on the bedpost.


	25. Chapter 25

_Apologies for the delay in updates. I could come up with all sorts of reasonable excuses, but there just really aren't any for the hold-up in getting the final lap of How About No out and uploaded. Having said that, on the bright side; there shouldn't be any more road trips for the next while, which means I'll do my best to wrap this book up with maybe five or so more chapters. There will also be a final one-shot and then the doors will close on the McDowell books. On that note, I have however decided to continue writing, so if you're a Supernatural fan, keep your head up for my next series of books. In the meantime, enjoy the McDowells and please leave a review!_

_-- Tyler_

Max's eyebrows furrowed tightly in distress but her full lips were set determinedly as she felt Joshua's huge, soaking wet (and alarmingly deadweight) frame from injuries the moment one of the Harper brothers excavated the canine nomalie from the debris.

"Phil!" Harvey, the older and gruffer of the pair, grunted to his brother as he attempted to shift a particularly large rock off of Mole, "Help me with this one, would ya?"

"You got'im?" The younger sibling queried gruffly at Max as he carefully released Joshua into her arms from her crouching position in the stream.

"Yeah, just get Mole out!" Max insisted, cradling Joshua's upper body in her arms and closing her eyes tightly with relief at the steady pulsing of his heartbeat underneath the hand she laid on his chest.

"Thank god you're alive, Big Fella…" Max whispered, equally relieved that there appeared to be no spinal damage to Joshua, which would significantly speed up the grueling process of moving both him and Mole to the Harper's helicopter directly outside.

Joshua stirred and groaned inaudibly in his unconscious stupor, and Max winced at an ugly gash gracing the side of his temple which was drooling blood onto the rest of her old friend's already bruised face.

"You'd _better_ make it through this one, you hear me, Joshua?" Max mumbled as she reached out a hand to gingerly brush away the matted locks from his face, "Cuz you _so_ don't wanna add throwin' in the towel of the list of things I get to kick your ass for once this is done!"

"Jesus, this one's a sight 'n a half!" Phil huffed out grimly, and Max glanced up and had to steel herself against tears which threatened to surface at the sight of Mole, bloodied, broken in several obvious places and she didn't want to know how many hidden ones.

"Least his scaly hide saved his backbone from snappin' in two." Harvey responded as he shifted Mole's legs – one of which appeared to be broken and at an awkward angle – while nodding at his brother to lift the other side. "Careful there, pal!"

"We're gonna need the stretchers, Max." Phil ignored his brother's remark as he raised his black, bushy eyebrows down at the small transgenic woman cradling her massive dog-faced compadre in her lean, thin arms.

She gazed up at him with matter-of-fact chocolate orbs, "I'm not leaving them." Max responded through a tight jaw.

"Fine." Harvey responded dourly as he and his brother propped Mole up against the rock face into a reclining position, "You wait here and we'll be back in a jiffy."

Max offered no argument, and the brothers took off without another word, their enormous hiking boots sloshing through the stream. A sudden fear gripped Max as she glanced at the cold, unmoving forms of Mole and Joshua…

…Two of the only people in the world whom she and Alec loved as deeply as they loved their children - and who, in turn, loved Brac and Nyx almost as much as their parents….

Almost…

Max had always thought so, because as far as the fiery X5 was concerned, _nobody_, the world-over, could possibly feel a stronger, more loyal and devoted love then the bond she and Alec had with Brac and Nyx.

But now, today? Joshua and Mole had flushed that sentiment down the can for good.

Max allowed a single, lone tear to streak down her bronzed cheek as she hugged Joshua closer to her and pressed her lips against the top of his soft, wet hair.

"Please," She whispered softly as she reached out her free hand to brush her fingertips against Mole's rough, unmoving ones.

"Please be okay."

And then the moment was over. The Harper's charged quickly into the cave once more, each one bearing a flat, wire-framed stretcher bed across their backs as they paused to stand over Max.

Max quickly blinked back her grief and assisted Phil in easing Joshua's gigantic frame onto one of the beds. The wounded nomalie growled softly and his eyes squeezed tighter shut for a brief moment before he returned to his comatose state.

"You and Harvey take him and load him into the chopper." Max instructed, flicking a strand of damp hair behind her shoulder as she turned to Mole, "Then come help me get Mole onto the second one and we'll get the hell outta here."

Harvey raised an eyebrow as he stooped to grip the handles on the end of the stretcher bearing Joshua, "What about that psychopath in there?" He nodded towards the bend around which Bren still lay restrained in the stream.

Max felt her heart skip a beat and steeled herself to ignore the icy hatred welling up in her abs at the mere mention of the woman who had been the source of so much pain to so many people – more specifically, her son.

For a minute, Max almost told Harvey that they would leave Bren in the cave. The woman was critically wounded and in a similar state to Joshua and Mole as far as injuries went. The trip to Wisconsin's hospital and back would likely kill Bren during its interim period if Max allowed her to be left, bleeding, tied and gagged in an ice-cold stream in the middle of winter.

Cold…in pain…alone…the way Brac had spent the last freaking month.

"Max?"

_I should kill you right now and forget you ever existed…_

Words spoken to an age-old enemy from years back rang clear in Max's head.

_But I'm not that kind of animal_.

She snapped back to reality with a resigned sigh of irritation, "We'll take her along once we get the others loaded up. Now get a move on, time's running out for these guys – let's GO!"

__

For a county hospital the air traffic buzzing 'round this place is _insane_, Tank deduced as he hovered his chopper impatiently above an ambulance helicopter that was making its (slow) descent onto the landing pad of St Joseph's Hospital.

Night had fallen, bringing with it a thick blanket of winter fog that further delayed all airborne comings and goings – plus St Joseph only had three landing pads for helicopter traffic, and Tank had been waiting in a queue for the full fifteen minutes it had taken the Harper's chopper to catch up with theirs.

To top it all off, Tank was beginning to entertain a cautious edge in regards to his future as a living entity, being caught between a proverbial rock and a hard place (in the form of Alec climbing the walls of his chopper in impatient frustration, and Max's helicopter nipping at Tank's heels every twenty-odd seconds).

He breathed deeply and rubbed his face in desperation as the ambulance chopper finally touched down on the landing pad.

"In five we'll be good to go!" He called behind him as he flipped some switches and prepped the bird for landing as soon as the all-clear signal was displayed.

"You _gotta_ be kidding me. Another five minutes o' this shit?" Alec demanded roughly, pausing from where he had been pacing by Brac's bed to glare ferociously at Tank.

"Relax!" Tank ordered acidly, noting with alarm as he twisted to view Alec that the X5 looked like absolute crap (through of course, taking Alec's almost flawless appearance into account, the term 'crap' was relative.)

"There's nothing we can do about it 'cept sit tight, so take a chill pill, alright?" Tank rolled his eyes at Alec's heavy sigh of intense agitation as the man paused to squat beside Brac's bed and check his son's pulse (for the eighteenth time in ten minutes).

"How's he doing?" Tank hated to broach the question, but the vacuum mercifully sucking his attention from Brac's critical condition that manning the chopper had created was now gone. And the complete and utter silence from Brac's corner was definitely beginning to wear a hole in Tank's thin layer of calm.

"Pulse's still racin' like a pack o' wild horses." Alec replied, the rough edge that had coated his voice softening slightly as he moved his fingers from the pulse on Brac's neck to run them through his son's hair.

"Least he's stopped crying." Tank offered mutely with a forlorn glance in Brac's direction.

"It's not a good sign." Alec reminded him tersely as he pursed his lips down at the pale, sweat-soaked adolescent who was curled up into a ball far too small for his height and listlessly staring into space.

"He's in there somewhere, Tank." Alec's quiet, almost whispered statement caused Tank's eyebrows to furrow up as he full-on turned, arm stretched over the top of his chair, to look at Alec.

Alec's voice was soft yet edgy as he sniffed and rubbed a hand over his face. "I can't get to'im. He won't let me in."

Tank sucked at his cheeks briefly before responding, "Maybe he wants his dad."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alec's head turned up slowly to cast Tank a stony, matter-of-fact glare which was swiftly mirrored back at him by his fellow X5.

"'Stead o' X5 – 494." Tank finished, throwing an eyebrow raise into the mix and nodding in Alec's direction, "You don't think your son's had enough Manticore totalitarianism over the past four weeks?"

"Still tryin' to catch your drift here, Tank…" Alec's bristly retort was intercepted mid-way by Tank's less-then-cushioned comeback.

"He's thirteen years old and he's been through hell! Least you could do is cut the kid a break and play Dad for the next few hours, huh Alec, whaddya say?"

"You're a self-righteous bastard, you know that?" Alec stated through grit teeth as he stood up, hard green eyes pinning Tank with a lethal deadpan scowl, "Bet it's real easy to go all freakin' psychoanalyst on me from your lil' corner o' safety…"

"Now _I'm_ the one who's lost…"

"Well you didn't lose a _son_!" Alec yelled, the full heat of his terrified anger momentarily abandoning cover, "I mean you have no _freaking_ idea how it's been for me and Max since the _second_ that kid" He stabbed a finger at Brac while keeping his eyes trained on Tank, "got taken, alright? Not a fucking clue in hell!"

"I'm sure I don't." Tank responded evenly, leaning back in his chair to appraise Alec with long, composed glance that went completely unnoticed by the other man.

"Yeah?" Alec's voice returned to its quiet pitch with a sizable gravelly edge to it as he raised his eyebrows at Tank. "Well then get the fuck off our backs."

Tank sighed through his nose as he graced Alec with the same, penetrating stare for a moment longer. Alec's eyes narrowed heavily and his lips tightened, but there was a weariness encompassing him that overshadowed even the rigid stance of his muscular transgenic frame and screamed out to anyone who knew him well that Alec was grasping at straws.

Tank drew in a deep breath and blew it out before he shook his head sadly at his friend, "Alec…"

Alec and Tank's heads turned instantly at a sudden movement from the medical cot.

"Whoa, whoa, Brac!" Alec moved quickly to secure the frantic hands that were attempting to dislodge the blood drip needle. "It's okay! It's okay; it's just a drip…"

"Take it out!" Brac's scream was hoarse and heaving, and his bleary green eyes were alive with pulsating fear once more. He struggled, thrashing violently against Alec's hands on his arms, "Please, take it out of me!"

"If you take that thing outta your arm, you're gonna die - do you understand me, Brac?" Alec explained calmly as he carefully held Brac's arms from bay while doing his best not to damage his fragile bandaged wrists.

"I need you to chill for a bit, alright?" Alec raised his eyebrows as Brac's struggling lessened and he looked up at his father with sad, watery eyes rimmed with fiery crimson.

"Just for a while." Alec was unaware of Tank's eyes on his back as he crouched down beside Brac, his voice and face softening and one of his hands releasing their grip on his son to thread his fingers through Brac's hair. "We're gonna be at the hospital any second now, okay? Doctor Johnston's gonna look after you - and your mom an' I'll be there, and everything's gonna be fine, alright Brac?"

Brac's eyes painfully pushed out fresh tears as his lips tightened into a thin line and he shuddered under the feel of Alec's hand on his head.

"I'm g…gonna die." He whispered, his breath coming in short gasps as his pale face blanched further and his pupils began to dilate erratically. "A…aren't I?"

"Not today, Brac." Alec had taken a moment too long to issue forth his whispered response as he leant over his son to plant a kiss on his mop of hair.

Brac sucked in a deep breath at the press of Alec's lips against his skull – warm, unobtrusive, quiet…just _there_.

Something shifted in Brac's sub-consciousness as Alec knelt beside him, determined green eyes focused completely on his son and quietly asking Brac to look at him, to stay looking at him….

To stay awake.

"I need you to stay awake." The words came in sync a moment later, a testament to the wavelength that Brac and Alec had always shared.

Brac blinked away the fog that was obscuring his vision for a fleeting moment as he studied Alec's kneeling form beside him as Alec pulled off his glove and clasped his hand in one of Brac's, just firmly enough to impart the only kind of comfort that ever reassured his boy – the determined sort that spoke in a quiet, matter-of-fact voice all to similar to Alec's.

The kind that said '_You're getting through this because I said so'_.

"And I need you to stop fighting the IV. Alright? It has to stay in there."

Brac's aching eyes forced out another tear that rolled down the side of his dirty, pale face as he laid his head on the pillow and nodded at the squeeze of Alec's hand over his own.

"You…you're not gonna leave me?" Brac whispered, his hand suddenly clutching Alec's tightly as Tank began to take the chopper down for landing, causing the helicopter to lurch slightly.

"Not a chance in hell, kid." Alec answered in a gravelly whisper as he turned Brac's hand palm-up briefly to note with alarm that fresh blood was seeping through the bandages. Brac's transgenic abilities should really have allowed for a halt to the steady flow of blood trickling from the deep slits on his wrists by then.

Brac closed his eyes tightly and his eyebrows narrowed into a tight knot at the top of his nose as he shook his head and a tear rolled from under his eyelids.

"But _I_ left _you_."

Alec's eyes faltered and almost glimmered for a moment as he stared helplessly at his child's anguish.

"Alec!" Tank's call shattered the painful moment, "We're touching down!"

Johnston headed up the emergency grew who anxiously flooded the circumference of the helipad as the large grey chopper, propeller thrumming insistently, touched down smoothly onto the landing spot.

"I want a gurney team here _now_!" Johnston called as he jogged towards the helicopter, watching Tank calm the machine down and pull off his headgear while the passenger door slid open and Alec leant out into the frozen night air. "And an oxygen tank!"

"Johnston!" He called, and the McDowell family doctor felt his pulse quicken at the calm composure pouring from the X5 as the gurney team rolled their stretchers and mobile IVs onto the scene.

"Alec!" Johnston approached the helicopter quickly as Alec hopped onto the concrete and rushed to his side. "How's he doing?"

"Not good, doc. He's lost too much blood and he's still freaking bleeding to boot." Alec called over the roar of propeller as he guided the doctor to the door of the chopper. "We've prepped him for moving, but you're gonna need a blood IV and oxygen on him 24-7, and I mean _all the time_, you got it?"

"Understood. How're his vitals? Any signs of shock?" Johnston knew the McDowells too well to marvel at their poise and confidence during harrowing situations. Trauma seemed to incite a ruthless determination in Alec and Max even under the most extreme of cases – Johnston tallied it up to their soldier days.

Brac and Nyx on the other hand…

They were tough little guys, Johnston was fully aware, and no strangers to injuries and sickness. Like vines – tough and surprisingly resilient when clinging to their emotional tree-trunks of parents.

But a vine without a surface to cling to?

"Yeah he's definitely in the stages of hypovolemic shock. Dunno how long he's been that way though." Alec climbed in after Johnston, the gurney team swiftly on their heels as Tank silenced the chopper's engine and the deep, labored sound of Brac's breathing became painfully prominent.

"Sweet Jesus…" the words escaped Johnston's mouth before he could stop them as he knelt beside Brac's bed and assessed the critically fragile state of his patient all in one methodical, professional once-over.

"Brac? Brac, it's Doctor Johnston, alright? I need you to open your eyes and look at me, just stay with me, alright?" Johnston's breathing quickened and he spoke the words hastily as he felt Brac's pulse and forehead.

Brac panicked and lurched away from the hands, his legs sweeping out in front of him to ward the doctor off.

"Dad? Dad!" He yelled frantically, shuffling furiously away from Johnston and the medical team who were attempting to place a mask over his face and move him onto the gurney. "Get off me!"

"Alec!" Johnston called, signaling for the team to move aside and for Alec to come to the fore, "He's spazzing out – how long's he been doing this?"

Alec shook his head helplessly, his face beginning to allow a smidgeon of the pain that seeing Brac in this state was causing him, "I don't know. Since we found him at least, which was like an hour and a half ago maybe?"

"Okay, I need you to calm him down." Johnston informed him as he stepped back from the bed and motioned Alec forward, "He keeps up like this and he's going to die before we get him into ER."

Alec didn't waste any time, bending down and cupping Brac's face in his hands, "I'm here, I'm here, Brac. Shh, it's okay, alright?"

"They…" Brac heaved on his own sobbing but there was livid determination ragin in his blurry green eyes, "they wanna take me…"

"Brac, you have to go with them, alright? They're gonna help you, make you better, yeah?" Alec blew out a breath at the pleading look his boy was giving him. It was the one expression that got to Alec (and Max) every time …namely due to the fact that Brac only ever wore it in moments of severe distress (or when he was in severe trouble which sometimes went hand-in-hand with the distress part).

"I wanna stay with _you_." Brac whispered as his cold, clammy hands gripped Alec's wrists weakly, "_Please_, Dad?"

Alec nodded, "Okay. I'll be right here, I promise. But I need you to lie down on the stretcher, okay?" He was overwhelmed with relief when Brac nodded obediently, his tense, shivering muscles relaxing somewhat as Alec gently eased him into his arms and nodded at the gurney team.

Max bit her lip with relief as she stared out her helicopter window to watch the medics run Brac's stretcher off the roof and into the hospital itself. She had spied Alec anchored to their son's side and closed her eyes briefly at the sound of Joshua's quiet groaning from his bed.

"How much longer?" Max queried, and Harvey held up two fingers from over his shoulder as he leant over his brother in the cockpit.

"Two minutes. Tank's just gettin' his bird off the ground and then we're all-clear for landing." He nodded at the two transgenics, "How're they doin'?"

Max shook her head as she brushed some of Joshua's long, scraggly hair out of his face, "I got no idea. All their vitals are stable though, which is a definite plus."

"Truth be told, we gotta worry more about broken bones and ruptured insides then we do about externals." Harvey motioned at Mole's unmoving form, the silent rise and fall of the nomalie's chest the only clear indication of life still inside him. "Least there's not much danger of spinal damage. Would make movin'em a bitch."

Max nodded absently, trying desperately to distract herself somehow from the lean figure strapped to a bed in the corner of the chopper. Bren had mellowed out somewhat as her injuries progressively overcame her arrogance. Her mouth was still taped shut but Max had allowed the Harper's to strap the woman properly onto the bed and remove the handcuffs.

It was only through concentrating solely on Joshua and Mole that Max found the self-resolve to refrain from smashing Bren's face in. She had felt the ret hot anger rising in her more then once, but had enough self-control to keep it in check.

_Alec and I don't have anything to waste on that skank right now_. Max steeled herself against the rising urge to stand up and slug Bren just once. Brac, Joshua and Mole were going to command hers and Alec's full attention for the next long while.

But there was a time and a place for everything.

Including the opportunity for Max and Alec to sit down for a nice, long chat with the psychotic woman who had kidnapped, hell, nearly murdered their son in cold blood.

And it would be sooner rather then later.

It took two of the most stressful hours of Max and Alec's lives before the pair were able to meet in the lobby outside of Brac's ER room. Alec stood up from where he had been sitting, head in his hands, as Max strode into the lounge.

"Hey," He called out with a brief smile at the sight of his mate as she nodded at him in response.

"How is he?" Max queried, her expression and tone echoing a weary yet ever-present fear that flipped all the switches on Alec's protective instincts panel.

Except that said instincts were already on overdrive with fear for the life of a critically frail child just right then.

Alec sighed and shook his head, "Alive." He offered, raising his eyebrows briefly and then letting them fall as Max blew out a breath of gratitude.

"Can we see him?" Max pinched the bridge of her nose and eyed the floor as Alec made the first tentative move to offer comfort that he really didn't have, reaching out and gripping Max's fingertips in his own lightly as he guided her over to a seat.

"He's sleeping." Alec informed her as they sat down, casting a fleeting glance in the direction of Brac's ward. "They've got him on three bags o' blood, plus oxygen and a butt-load o' other weird crap I don't even wanna know about."

"Johnston say anything about how's he's holdin' up?" Max narrowed her eyebrows and griped Alec's hand a little tighter in her own as he sniffed and returned his gaze to her.

"Yeah says he's got a good chance o' recovery provided he pulls outta shock." Alec paused for a moment, squinting at the wall opposite them and rubbing his chin before shaking his head and lowering his gaze to the floor, "I've never seen him like this, Maxie." He turned to look at his mate and Max recognized her own cold fear in Alec's bright green eyes, "I mean, the kid's freaking terrified. Brac doesn't get scared, not like that."

Max nodded and squeezed Alec's hand softly, "We just gotta be there for him. It's all we can do right now, just…" she shrugged dismally, "let him know we're there."

"How's Mole and Josh?" Alec switched topics as he fixed Max with a narrow-eyed expression of concern.

Max nodded once more, "Joshua broke his arm in three places and fractured a knee, but other then a smatter of cuts and bruises, he's gonna be fine. It's Mole I'm worried about."

"What's happenin'?" Alec dipped his head at her, worry ringing in his voice as he frowned.

"Doesn't look good." Max pressed her lips together and leant back into her chair, head resting on Alec's broad shoulder and her fingernail tracing patterns on his knuckles subconsciously as she spoke. "He broke his right leg, an elbow and five ribs, but what's seriously bad is that his spleen ruptured somehow. They had to remove it asap, but Mole's in a pretty bad way and the op put a lotta strain on him."

Alec didn't respond for a moment as he eyed the ground silently and twirled a lock of Max's tangled brown hair in the hand he had draped around her shoulders.

"What about Bren?" He finally asked, and Max stiffened in his grasp before she sat up straight and crossed a leg over her knee.

"She's post-op as well, under armed guard and restrained as much as her broken arm, set o- ribs and internal bruising will allow for."

Alec's breath hissed out through grit teeth as he clenched his jaw and cast his gaze on Max as his mate looked up at him with stony chocolate eyes.

"Brac can't know she's here. And we gotta back off from dealin' with her till all this under wraps." Max whispered, her eyes searching Alec's for a fraction of surrender underneath the calculating revenge.

"Please, Alec." Max gripped the hand toying with her hair tightly in her own and looked him dead in the eye, "Out of sight is out of mind. And right now our son needs our full attention if we want him to pull outta this."

Alec pursed his lips and didn't answer, instead turning away from Max's gaze and leaning his fist on his knee in thought.

"Trust me, Alec." Max pressed keenly as she wrapped an arm across his shoulders and leant her forehead against the side of Alec's face, "Bren's not going anywhere. But if we don't give it everything we got, Brac might not come outta this alive."

She felt Alec tense up at the mere suggestion and pulled her head back as he turned his own to look at her coldly.

Unfazed, Max continued with her final plea for her pig-headed mate's cooperation, "And I'm not losing my son to Bren a second time." She raised her eyebrows stubbornly, "So what's it gonna be?"

Alec shook his head at her, undaunted by the bravado. But as he slipped his hand out of Max's, he moved it up to rub the nape of her neck briefly.

Max closed her eyes and leant into the comforting caress, allowing Alec's hand to rest her head on his shoulder once more.

Just one moment of surcease from the battle.

Because both Max and Alec were full aware that this was far from over.


	26. Chapter 26

**Finally - another chapter. The final few should be shortly incoming, so keep your heads up, all. **Thanks for your patience**, **and for those of you who've been faithful with your reviews_(special gratitude to **Chica, Recicup, IceBox, Timetowaste** and everyone else who's been a regular_) you are truly amazing. I hope you can bear with me till the end here and continue to offer insightful reviews and feedback while we watch the wrap-up of Book 8. It's not all out of the woods yet...

_**-- Tyler**_

* * *

Johnston sighed and gulped at what was easily his fourth espresso of the evening. _Well it technically isn't evening anymore._ He thought as he glanced at the clock. _Three AM? Holy crap_. He shook his head and knocked back a final swig before nodding at his assistant.

"Sherry, think you could call Max and Alec in here for me?"

"Sure." The bouncy twenty-two year old was looking slightly worse for wear as she wearily stood up from her desk and headed out into the hallway, still clutching her steaming coffee mug.

Johsnton sighed once more, _I'm gonna send that kid home before she collapses on the spot. Sherry's not used to all-nighters._

Johnston on other hand was a nocturnal man. Morning people irritated him greatly and the doctor wanted nothing more then a large mug of coffee, a doughnut and a 'leave me alone' sign above his office when he worked early bird shifts.

It was an affinity he shared with Max and Alec, and one of the many reasons why the high-profile X5s had trusted Johnston as their private doctor for many years. They just…liked him.

Sure, Johnston's shoulder-rubbing with the upper echelons of transgenic culture had earned him a few snide remarks and a truckload of jealous grabs at his job, home and even family. He couldn't have cared less when he'd started, but Johnston had found a whole new level of 'don't-give-a-crapism' since working with Max and Alec.

Another tick on the list of reasons why Max and Alec trusted him.

They just…liked him.

Johnston blew out a breath and rubbed his balding head as he heard the door to his office click open and Sherry strode inside with the X5 couple on her heels.

Max and Alec were a handful on their good days (one of the things that made them lovable to a fiery pragmatist like Johnston) – but on their bad days…days when their kids came under fire from some 'freshly-baked medical profanity' (Johnston favorite term for a sickness he didn't understand)…well, those were the days when Johnston would have feared for his life had he been wearing any other tag then 'Dr. Johnston' on his jacket.

"How you holding up?" He offered tentatively as Alec and Max pushed the door closed behind them and turned anxious, drawn faces to meet his own.

"Crawling up the walls." Was Alec's blatant response, and Max huffed out a sigh at him before raising her eyebrows at the doctor.

"When can we see Brac?"

"Soon uh…actually now if you'd like." Johnston checked his watch and glanced back up at Max, "It's been over four hours and so far his vitals have stabilized. The blood seems to be working and the oxygen is doing its job."

"What about his arm - did you reset it?" Alec motioned to his jacket sleeve with a subconscious wince as he recalled the nasty dislocation.

"Well we wanted to wait until Brac was out of trauma to do that, but," Johnston sighed and fixed questioning, apologetic glances at the pair, "that doesn't look like it's going to be happening any time soon."

"He's still in shock?" Max's eyebrows furrowed up in sync with Alec's as the latter's jaw tightened slightly.

Johnston spread his hands, "There's no way of knowing what's really going on inside Brac's mind. I wanted to sedate him so he could catch some shut-eye and be spared all the whoopla, but the amount of blood loss to his system made any sort of medication a hazardous bet."

"He was awake for everything?" Max's voice softened a notch as she looked up at Alec with anxious eyes. He pursed his lips and nodded.

"No way of getting morphine pumping through a body that messed up if you want him to come out on top." Alec titled his head back at the ceiling wearily before bringing it down to fix Max with a morose expression, "I stayed with'im the whole time, Maxie. After a while, kid just…" He waved a hand, "hit the sack, you know. I mean, he was wiped."

Max nodded slowly at the truth of the statement, rubbing under her eyes at the smudged eyeliner darkening their rims as she turned back to Johnston, "I wanna see him now."

"Okay." Johnston motioned at Alec, "You wanna take her? I…I assume you want some time alone with your son."

"We'll be alright." Alec responded with a nod of thanks at the doctor as he steered Max out of the office, "Oh and Johnston?"

"Yeah?" The doctor narrowed his eyebrows as Alec paused in the doorway with a raise of his own.

"Catch some winks, man. You look like crap."

"Thanks." Johnston grinned, and Alec mirrored the gesture with a shrug as he headed out the door.

Johnston sighed and sat back in his chair.

Yep. Alec and Max, they just…liked him.

* * *

The intensive care room Brac had been moved to was dark save for the scattered lights of the various medical machinery dotting the ward and a dim overhead neon bulb at the opposite end of where Brac's bed was stowed.

Max and Alec slipped quietly into the room and the former inhaled deeply at the lean teenager lying motionless in the hospital bed.

"Brac…" Max whispered, her face and voice a picture of pain as she headed to the bedside and stared in disbelief at how small and fragile her previously strong and sturdy son now appeared. Lost in the mesh of drips, tubes and wires taped to his body somewhere was the Brac Max remembered. An oxygen mask strapped across his mouth and nose and the steady rise and fall of his solar plexus worked conflicting emotions in Max's gut.

Brac was alive, yes. But whether or not the youth lying in the bed was still the son she knew…that much Max very much doubted.

Alec was behind her now, and although he had been the one beside Brac since their arrival at the hospital and was no stranger to his son's present condition, the arm he wrapped across Max's chest from behind and the chin he rested on the curve of her neck suggested Alec was not finding this any easier.

Max's eyes didn't move from her son, but she reached up and clutched Alec's hand that rested on her shoulder.

"He's gonna be okay." She whispered, fighting off the tears demanding to spill as her heart began to beat in time with the blip of Brac's monitor.

Alec sighed slowly and he brushed his lips against the cotton of Max's turtle neck before he pulled a set of chairs up beside Brac's bed and motioned for Max to sit with him.

"God, how many times have we been in this position?" Max smiled weakly and shook her head as she obliged, scooting her chair closer to the bed alongside Alec's.

"Uh, lost count." Alec mumbled from underneath the hand he was holding to his forehead before he chuckled softly and looked up, a glimmer of warmth appearing in the eyes that met Max's. "Tell you one thing, though; these chairs beat the ones we hadta park it on when Brac broke his arm."

"Which time?" Max rolled her eyes and shook her head at her son's quiescent form.

"With that little X6 girl, uh, Trish I think her name was. It was Christmas last year or something…"

"Oh god," Max laughed quietly and then quickly cupped a hand over her mouth as Brac stirred imperceptibly and Alec frowned mockingly at her.

"Don't gimme that look; you were laughing your head off through the whole damn thing!" She muttered as she poked Alec's ribs and he held up his hands in defense.

"Well I'm sorry you weren't as amused, Madame _Scrooge_, but it was freaking hilarious." Alec retorted, leaning forward in his chair as he spoke with animation while he absently tapped against the metal hand-bar of Brac's bed.

"We missed Mole's Christmas bash at his hall which by the way, Mister _Saturday-night-fever_, was apparently the best dig of the year!" Max thumped her fist against Alec's back lightly before resting her elbow and chin on his shoulder blade and wearing a pensive smile, "Brac was so embarrassed, I think he woulda died if it wasn't for that fact you were right there with him on the whole 'chicks dig roughage' spiel."

"Hey," Alec shrugged unapologetically as he cast Max a laconic gaze over his shoulder, "Don't even try to deny it, sweetcakes. We both know that's what attracted you to me in the first place…along with my dazzling good looks and amazing wit."

Max's nose crinkled, "It was more your pain in the ass determination coupled with the _mysterious growing bump_ that did the trick, I think."

Alec shrugged with a faint upturn at the edge of his mouth, "Suit yourself, Maxie." Her grin of response was wasted on her mate as he turned his gaze to his son once more.

"Do you think he can hear us?" Alec questioned rhetorically in a quiet voice as his expression grew more poignant with each rise and fall of Brac's chest.

"Dunno." Max admitted truthfully, chin propped up on a hand resting in the cavity of Alec's shoulder blade. She gathered up her eyebrows as she followed Alec's gaze to their son, "I'd like to think he can."

Alec blew out a quiet breath and his eyes flickered to his lap for a moment, "Yeah…me too."

Max raised her eyebrows with a tired smile, "Then what are we waiting for?"

Alec looked at her curiously as she sat up straight and then leant forward in sync with him until both X5s were as close to Brac as they could be while remaining seated.

Max reached down and carefully clasped one of Brac's hands in her own, mindful of the heavy gauze bandaging his wrist and the nozzle over his thumb that monitored his pulse.

Alec had witnessed the transformation that parenthood had wrought in Max over the years, and still envied that it had been a relatively smooth transition– at least in comparison to his own. It wasn't that Alec had struggled with his own version of post-natal depression after Brac had been born. Hell, he'd never loved anything so certainly and instantly from the second he held that laughing little baby in his arms.

But Alec hadn't been raised with love – not of any kind. Max held a severe advantage over her mate in both the inner ties of her transgenic 'family' and the ten years of 'outside time' she'd done.

Max knew how to love. It was second nature to the otherwise feisty, opinionated wildcat. Alec on the other hand…he'd had to learn from scratch. And his first lesson (and only lesson until Max) – Rachel Berrisford – was definitely the school of hard knocks in that regard.

"We were just talking about the time you broke your arm." Max's gentle statement, somehow managing to tinkle with a raw sort of joy despite its broken edge, sounded in Alec's ears as she addressed their son.

"Last Christmas, remember?" Max continued, a small smile gracing her beautiful features – the same smile that still lit up her family's worlds in individual ways. "You were twelve and just growing outta the 'girls are stupid, lets throw rocks at'em' phase."

The informative bleeping of the heart monitor continued to drone out its chime of hope. The oxygen mask remained fogged with ragged, steady breath.

"You and Trish were holed up in your room rehearsing for Luke's ridiculous take on 'A Christmas Carol'." Max laughed under her breath at the absurd idea and shook her head as she patted Brac's hand, "I remember bein' over the moon about it but your dad and Nyxie thought it was dumbest idea ever. And you were agreeing with'em till you found out Trish was gonna be starring in it."

Alec remained painfully silent beside her as Max sighed, still smiling, and traced circles around the flat of Brac's palm with her fingertips.

"Anyway, you got so into your role after – it was unbelievable. And you 'n Trish were at it for hours…" She scrunched up her nose, "I think the count was four or somethin'. I dunno, I was in the kitchen arguing with your dad about politics or something stupid like that." Max paused and let her words reverberate in the air, and a heavy swallowing from Alec confirmed he shared in his mate's unspoken sentiment.

_Everything_ they'd wasted time arguing about as a family was stupid when weighed against the gravity of _now_ – very, very stupid.

Max shrugged as she continued, doing her best to ignore the needles and tubes sticking out of her son like pins in a cushion, "Suddenly there was this giant thud and then you screamed this…" Her eyes narrowed, "…awful scream and it – sheesh – it scared us to high heavens, you know that?"

Brac's eyelids were a creamy sheen of white that contrasted sharply with the haze of red flushing the skin surrounding them and dipping into a circle underneath dark, ugly bags.

"We came runnin' into your room and no way did we expect to find you an' Trish half-naked on the floor!" Max actually giggled though she blushed at the memory, "You'd fallen somehow and the cabinet, that really hideous one we got rid of last winter, tipped and smashed your arm under it." Her smile faded and her dark eyes grew pensive as she traced a finger along an unscathed portion of Brac's arm.

"It was pretty bad. Remember you actually passed out, it hurt so bad?" Max snorted slightly and shook her head, "You were so pigheaded the whole time, though, it was unbelievable. You woke up when we were in the car and the first thing you said to me was 'Mom, it's tonight, it's tonight!'." She sighed wistfully, "We thought you were hallucinating; we were like 'what? What is, baby?' and you said 'the play'…"

Max felt her throat catch on a lump and closed her eyes tightly as unbidden tears welled up under their lids. "You were so damn set on going. It didn't even matter your arm was broken in four places and you had to get an operation for it - it just…" She opened her eyes and smiled down at her boy as a teardrop skirted her cheekbone, "...meant so much to you to go. Ever since then…you know, it's just…it's been so long since you wanted something like that again, Brac. I don't want you to be somebody you're not, I just…_we_ just… want you to be happy again."

Max heard Alec suck in a shuddering breath that sounded suspiciously like a suppressed choke before her boy pushed away from his chair and stalked quickly out of the room, the door closing behind him. Her breath hitched on a sob and Max quickly stemmed her words, placing a fist against her mouth in an effort to stave off her crying.

"Sorry, Brac – know how much you hate this crap. I'm fine." She whispered, smirking up at the roof as she wiped away the tears streaking her face and then gazed back down at Brac in shock as the hand she was clasping weakly brushed a finger against hers.

Brac's eyes were half open but there was lucidness to them as he blinked slowly up at his mother.

Max inhaled deeply and let the air escape her mouth in a heavy sigh of relief as a broad, tender smile (her 'mother hen' smile as Mole referred to it) lit up her weary features.

"Hey, kiddo." She whispered.

* * *

Alec headed down one of St Joseph's broad, whitewashed corridors that was crawling with armed forces. A pair of sentries keeping watch outside the door of one recovery ward glanced up circumspectly at the X5 as he approached.

"Need a minute with her." Alec stated briskly as he paused outside the room, voice ringing with the confidence of an order. Because 494 didn't ask permission – he simply took what he wanted and dodged the fall-out.

The guards exchanged dubious glanced before the older of the two spoke up.

"Uh, sir, she's max security. I'm gonna need to see some sorta ID and clearance before I…"

"Oh no problem." Alec's smile rang with sardonic ire as he raised his eyebrows and flashed his ITU badge, "See, I'm the guy whose son she tried to kill and the one who brought her in. So," He clapped his hands together, "If you gentlemen don't happen to have any other pressing questions, I'll just…" He motioned to the door, eyebrows still raised, and the officers blushed a chagrined crimson, "…have a lil' chat with her, alright? That all cool with you guys? I mean, cuz otherwise I could always…"

"No, no, it's fine." The senior sentry moved aside hastily and motioned for his partner to do the same. "Just make it quick cuz the doctor said she needs her rest."

"Oh no worries, man." Alec pursed his lips and patted the man on his shoulder as they unlocked the multiple security devices on the door and he stepped through. "Wouldn't want her to pull a stitch."

Alec shut the door behind him and then turned to get his first clear look at the X5 who had made life into a living hell for Brac – not to mention their entire family.

Bren's room was dimly lit but that posed no threat to a transgenic's eyesight, and it certainly made no dent in Alec's as he took a few steps closer to the hospital bed which held an emaciated, harsh featured woman.

Bren.

The monosyllabic name which had burned itself with a searing heat into the flesh of the McDowell family in unique yet equally painful ways.

The reports said that Bren had lost a fair amount of blood in the cave and during transition. Alec was only sorry about the fact that it hadn't been more.

_For every liquid ounce of blood the bitch lost, some of it was stolen from Brac_. The thought rang hollowly in Alec's mind as he approached the foot of the bed and met the cold, pale eyes that glared acidly into his own.

"My, my, my." Bren crooned out from her position propped up on a number of pillows, one arm in a cast and a slew of white gauze taped to various parts of her torso. Large straps fastened over her lower body secured her into place, and her good wrist was fastened to the side of the bed in similar fashion. Her face, gaunt to the point of revulsion, sported several wicked-looking bruises – testaments to the collective work of Max, Mole and Joshua.

But the sneer on her thin, scabbed lips overshadowed all else.

"494. To what do I owe the…" Bren waved a hand in the air, "…unsolicited honor?"

Alec narrowed his eyes, "Mainly to the fact I _really_ dislike havin' to visit TOI. You know, absence of sunlight and decent grub…not to mention the chicks wing is chock full of mordant _dykes_ which, no _offense_, doesn't really appeal to me."

If Bren was fazed, it didn't register on her face. Instead her thinly-plucked eyebrows gathered up into an expression that yelled 'bite me' as she adjusted her position.

"Oh great. I _know_ you didn't come all the way here just to unburden yourself of a sob story." She shrugged and eyed Alec up and down caustically, "Then again…you _have_ had a pretty sorry excuse for a life, considering the potential – so," Bren motioned to the visitors chair in the corner of the room, "…have a seat. Sorry it's not your average shrink chair…"

"Yeah you'd know a lot about shrink chairs, wouldn't you, bitch?" Alec responded matter-of-factly, unapologetic anger now crackling in his eyes as he gripped the end rail of Bren's bed with pale knuckles.

"As I recall it was _you_ who spent six months in _Psy-Ops_ after Ben flew the coop." Bren raised a critical eyebrow at the bandages on her knuckles as she spoke, heedless of the darkness coiling from the X5 in front of her.

"You know, I never got to thank your little whore for her part in Ben's demise." Bren continued as she eyed a smudge of dirt on her elbow with disgust, "If 452 hadn't killed him, I don't think half the mindless rodents serving under me would ever have been persuaded to my cause. In murdering Ben, Max not only immortalized him - she practically _canonized_ the man as far as my people are concerned. I mean, let's not shy away from the facts here, _Alec_."

Here Bren glanced up to throw the X5 a laconic eyebrow raise, but she froze like a deer in a set of headlights, mouth falling open and eyes narrowing at the almost tangible aura that had darkened Alec's features.

"My god…" Bren whispered as she stared at Alec.

"Oh _now_ she gets it." Alec replied in a rough, low voice that never boded well as his green eyes remained pinned on Bren and every muscle in his body tensed, "Or did you really think abducting my son and sucking him dry wasn't gonna piss me off?"

Bren swallowed mechanically and her lips pressed tightly together before she replied in the same quiet intonation, "You want to kill me, 494? Go ahead. Take your time even, if you want. But I'd die happy after what I've just set eyes on."

Alec's eyes narrowed further and his tight grip on the bedpost gave his rounded, muscular shoulders the air of a cat prepping to pounce.

"It's a little late for the flattery tactics…"

"My goal," Bren interrupted him in a voice that suggested she was genuinely elated, "was to reincarnate your twin and combine, if I could, the mental faculties of 493 with the unparalleled genetic perfection of the McDowell bloodline…"

"Yeah I kinda got the less filtered version of your _goal_ from Casey Trendon. You know, one of the innocent kids you snatched up and fed Brac's blood so they could be your good little soldiers?" Alec began acidly, but Bren cut him off one final time with a quiet statement of self-proclaimed triumph.

"Mission accomplished." She eyed Alec with a terrifying awe and rabid desire that made his stomach twist in disgust. "Lead us to glory, 494. Even from my prison cell I'll revel in your victories…"

This time, it was Alec's turn to interrupt, and he did so with his hand clamped tightly around Bren's collar in a move from the foot of the bed to her side that was indeterminably fast. Alec's other hand curled into a tight fist which slammed itself across Bren's harsh-featured face not once but three consecutive times.

Bren's mouth filled with blood but her eyes became ablaze with a cold fire as Alec slammed her against the headboard of her bed. Alec's breath was ragged and for a long moment he stared at Bren, jaw clenched tightly as he struggled with the urge to choke the life out of the depraved woman and ensure she would never return to torment his son again.

"Go ahead. Do it." Bren coerced, and Alec could sense by the flare of her nostrils that she fully expected him to make good on his obvious intentions. "DO IT NOW!" She yelled, and Alec was shocked to see tears glistening in Bren's eyes.

He stared at her for another agonizing second before he slammed Bren's back against the headboard and then released his grip on her collar.

"You fucking coward!" Bren was trembling with rage as Alec straightened to his full height and glared tightly over his shoulder in an effort to regain control of himself.

"Why don't you do it? You know you want to, goddamn it – I tortured your son!" Bren screamed, flying into a desperate fit to goad Alec into ending her life and, in Bren's twisted mind, begin his own as the embodiment of her psychotic hopes and dreams.

Bren felt a glimmer of hope as the muscles in Alec's jaw twitched though he continued to apparently ignore her. "I fed him your entire Manticore history on a plate and Max's too. Spent hours with him in the dark telling your son bedtime stories about the things you did, the lives you took, the people you tortured to get what you needed!" Bren eyed the back that Alec had turned to her and noticed the contraction as a set of broad shoulders tightened.

"You remember the reprogramming system at Manticore, 494? The laser beam, that horrifically frightening chair they'd strap us into?" Bren let out a soft snort, "I had a Psy-Ops reject reconstruct it all from scratch. Not the whole thing, of course – we were running on a deadline." Her tone lowered malevolently as she surveyed the clenching of Alec's fists with satisfaction, "Just enough to convince Junior of the righteousness of our cause…and his part in it of course. Brac spent a lot of time in that chair…" She allowed her voice to trail off as she eyed Alec tentatively.

He turned around, slowly, dangerously, to look down at her with stony eyes that slugged Bren in the gut with foreboding.

The tension tingling in the air was broken by the peal of Alec's cell phone. He stiffened and glanced down at his pocket, slowly, methodically removing the device and noting that the caller ID was his mate.

"We can finish this right now." Bren stated coldly, eyes glued to Alec as he held the phone to his ear.

"Max," Alec stated in a dry tone, and Bren watched in dismay as the hardness in his vibrant green eyes softened instantly and his body relaxed.

"Tell him I'll be right up."

He hung up his phone and pocketed it, turning to Bren and raising an eyebrow, "Looks like visiting hours are over. Congratulations on your 'success' – I'm sure it was worth it." Alec headed for the door without another glance over his shoulder, "My son wants to see me."

Bren's eyes widened, "It doesn't have to be this way – ALEC!" She shrieked as he pulled open the door.

"I'm not lettin' _you_ of _all_ people make me into the monster you've told my son I am." Alec retorted matter-of-factly as he continued to leave.

"What kind of father doesn't want revenge for his child?"

Alec paused, hand on the doorknob, as he looked over his shoulder at the ground, not gracing Bren with eye contact, "Brac's pullin' out of whatever it is you did to him. And yeah, it'll take time, but he'll come out alright – we'll get him through. Max and I, we've got each other. You?" He shrugged, "You've got _nothing_, and no prospect for your future but a life behind bars starin' out your window at the transgenic nation you _failed_ to ruin. So as far as revenge goes?" He turned his head to face forward once more as he stepped through the doorway, "Let's put that on ice for now, shall we? Cuz right now, I've got a _life_ to get on back to."

"Don't walk away from this, 494!" Bren's gutted screams echoed down the corridor after Alec as he nodded at the guards and headed down the hall, "ALEC, PLEASE! _Please_ do this, you have to kill me! If you won't do it, Brac will, I promise, _please_…"

Alec rolled his eyes at the dubious expression on one of the doctor's faces as the man glanced in the direction of Bren's sob-filled hollers.

"Might wanna think of gettin' her a transfer. Don't happen to have any dorms with padded walls in this joint, do you?"

The young and evidently uncertain doctor stuttered and his face flushed in recognition as he gawked at Alec, "Uh…well there's the Mental Health wing, sir, but I…I…I don't know that it's…"

"Good, there you go then." Alec clapped him on the shoulder before continuing on.

As soon as he rounded a corner however, the full weight of what Bren had told him sank like an anchor in his core. Alec swung out a hand to brace himself against the wall as he doubled over, breath deepening as he realized just how close they had come to losing Brac completely – if not in body, then in mind.

How much merit Bren's statement about the reprogramming held wasn't really the issue. Casey hadn't mentioned anything of the sort in her briefing and Brac's delirious ramblings didn't give any credence to the story either.

Either way, Alec and Max were both fully aware that Bren had gotten to their steel-plated boy like nobody else – not even Ames White and all of his sophisticated adware.

Alec pressed his forehead against the cold plaster of the wall and closed his eyes tightly, drumming his head several times into the solid surface before he took a deep, steadying breath and composing himself.

There was all the time in the world for self-deprecation and blame-games. Right now Brac needed both of his parents to be bastions of strength and assurance. So, while inwardly cursing Murphy's Law and the fact his guilt gland had picked that exact inconvenient moment to throw a full-on tantrum, Alec sniffed, ran his fingers through his hair, adjusted his sweater and stalked steadfastly into Brac's room.


	27. Chapter 27

_Back with another update....still more to come. Faster then previous ones - it was a very moving one to write. Enjoy and review!_

_(**PS:** My profile has now been updated with the URLs for my blog where you can access the Episode banners for The McDowell Books. Also now up and running is the blog for my Supernatural tag series that should be starting around Christmas, for all Supernatural fans. On my profile, you'll find the link to the site where a full Episode Guide and Banners are already posted. That's all for now. Take care ;) )_

_**-- Tyler**_

Max's head shot up as her mate entered and she appraised Alec with a long, assessing stare. Max had heard it said often enough that dire circumstances put life back into proper perspective, but she'd had her fair share of grave situations over the years – and the overhaul her perception had been given was taking her by storm.

Max hadn't known such complete clarity in good long while. It was like seeing everything through a pair of prescription glasses after years of roughing it without. She could see every single stroke of time and experience's brush contouring and defining Alec from the guarded, nihilistic socialite of fourteen years previous.

Max felt the corners of her lips pull upwards slightly as she watched Alec stalk into the room.

_He used to walk in and signs would light up above his head saying 'I'm here!'_ Max rolled her eyes inwardly. Alec's stride still held a measure of that youthful swagger, but it was different – a sort of quiet confidence that exuded not pride but assurance. He laughed less frequently then he did in his Jam Pony days, but now his laugh was always genuine. His still smirked, but his grin was more benign as opposed to the cynical, sardonic gesture it had been before.

_And he loves me_, Max sighed, resting content in that fact as she squeezed the cold hand still clutched in her own,_ Loves __us__._

So maybe she could have married Rafer and skipped off with him to Mauritius like he'd offered once. Maybe she could have tried to make it work with Logan once they'd found the cure instead of stepping back from the growing bond between him and Asha. Maybe if she'd left Seattle with Zack when she had the chance, they would have built a new life in Canada, just like her brother had always wanted for her.

_Maybe I'd've met some nice, French connoisseur of a guy who coached a children's ice hockey team. We'd date for like two years, eventually get married…have a white-dress, horse-carriage wedding like I've always secretly wanted. _Max shifted in her seat with a raise of her eyebrow, _Settle down in a detached house, away from pissy neighbors and auto smog. Have kids, send'em off to college and get them into the best Universities without having to worry they're gonna get knifed in their dorm. _

Max shook her head. Life with Alec had been one, non-stop roller coaster ride – thrilling highs, terrifying lows…the loops and twists of Manticore's two highest-profile transgenic creations fighting to build a life together under the shadow of a world that watched them with suspicion, jealousy and fear.

_But_, Max thought decidedly before pulling out of her reverie, _I wouldn't have it any other way - and not with anyone but Alec._

"Lights are little bright, no?" Alec squinted at the twin set of garish overhead neons and adjusted the knob on the light settings to dim them once more.

"Alec, _no_! Leave them on…" Max began, but she didn't get very far with her warning when Brac's heart rate monitor sped up drastically and sent a disturbing chime pulsing through the room.

"What the hell?" Alec demanded in complete confusion.

"Brac wants all the light he can get; now turn them back on full-blast!" Max responded shortly.

Alec's brow narrowed and he complied, returning the lights to their harsh brilliance and making his way quickly to Max's side.

"Here he is, Brac." Max turned her attention back to her son's hospital bed, which Alec noticed had been adjusted to prop Brac up into an 80-degree sitting position.

"Hey buddy." Alec swallowed at the lump in his throat and one corner of his lips tugged ever so slightly upward. Brac's face was largely obscured by the oxygen mask, but his eyes were clearly visible underneath the loose strands of hair creeping down his forehead.

He blinked slowly at Alec and then reached a hand up to his oxygen mask. Alec shook his head and placed a hand carefully over Brac's just as Max did likewise, stopping him from removing the object.

"Sorry, kiddo – it has to stay there for a while, okay?" Alec smiled in what was meant to be a reassuring manner.

"It can come off in the morning, Brac. I promise." Max eased Brac's hand back down and he didn't fight her. But his eyes filled with tears as they fixed on Alec standing beside the bed, and Brac closed them tightly with a slight shake of his head before forcing them back open and looking up at both his parents with upturned eyebrows and tears streaking from the corners of his dull green eyes.

"Hey, hey…" Max remonstrated gently, reaching out and wiping at the tears as they fell, "Shh…it's all over, Brac. We gotcha now, remember? It's all good…" She lifted Brac's hand to her mouth and pressed her lips softly against the cold tips of his fingers, "It's all good."

Brac's chest heaved a shudder but he calmed somewhat at Max's dialogue, swallowing heavily and blinking slowly once more as he looked back up at Alec, who was standing rigidly beside Max, lips pressed tightly together.

The X5 cleared his throat as Brac's eyes met his, "Nyxie's gonna swing by tomorrow around midday, so if I were you, I'd tank up on the rest while you can. Cuz you know Nyxie, man, you're never gonna get a moment's peace."

Brac knit his eyebrows, clearly frustrated about his inability to communicate. He looked at Max pleadingly and she sighed, in turn glancing up at Alec.

"Let's take him off the oxygen for a little while." Max debated quietly, and Alec raised his eyebrows.

"I dunno, Maxie. IVs don't regenerate blood cells half as quickly as oxygen does and he's lost a…"

"I know, but he's had a lot of transfusions already and he's pulling through okay." Max insisted, motioning for a moment over her shoulder to the filmy bags of blood surrounding Brac's bed, draining their contents slowly but steadily into his veins and replenishing his blood supply.

Alec sighed and rubbed his face, "It's your call, Max. Only for a while though or Johnston's pitching a fit."

"Ooh…" She shivered with a grin as she turned back to Brac in triumph, "Johnston in a full-blown 'medicinal uproar'. Been a while since we had one of _those_ to deal with." She reached over Brac with a smile, "'Kay, you can take it off, but only for a little while, alright? Cuz you need to get better real soon if you're gonna be in any of Luke's 'seasonal dramas' this year."

Brac's eyes narrowed as Max helped his ease the mask off his lower face. His lips were chapped, dry and pale but beginning to slowly regain some of their color along with his face.

Brac opened his mouth to speak but the sound that came out was a throaty croak that caused him to wince and clear his throat before trying a second time.

"My shoulder hurts." He rasped out, and both his parents cracked beaming grins for a split second in response – a habit they shared whenever one of their children said or did something 'endearing' (a habit which Brac shrugged off as 'patronizing' and which Nyx was still young enough to employ in her favor whenever she was in trouble).

"Yeah it's uh it's dislocated." Alec was the first to return to the reality of the situation as he sat down next to Max and rested his elbows on his knees. "Doc was gonna set it as soon as you were a lil' stronger."

"Just do it now?" Brac mumbled, clenching his teeth at the burning sensation in his shoulder, "Please?" He added at the skeptical looks darkening Alec and Max's faces. "It's burning something awful."

Max blew out a breath and raised her eyebrows at Alec, who sighed in turn before nodding grimly at Brac.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" He queried in a tone which would have been interpreted as stern if it hadn't rang clear with concern.

Brac nodded and closed his eyes, "Just do it quickly, yeah?"

He looked so young and small, but at the same time the pale, lean thirteen year-old's drawn, ashen features made him appear a good five years older. Only Brac's voice, quiet and cracking but still alive with the essence that made him who he was, gave a clear indication that Brac was still Brac.

Not the same Brac Max and Alec had lost to the snatching clutches of a twisted band of transgenics.

But still Brac. Not Ben.

Alec moved around to the other side of the bed and carefully, methodically eased his son forward, his hands resting on the shoulder joint.

"Alright then, on three." Alec quietly gave the count and then, in a lightening quick movement, set Brac's shoulder back into its socket.

Max and Alec didn't know whether to be relieved or alarmed when Brac didn't scream. He inhaled sharply and his hand clutched the sleeve of Alec's sweater in a tight fist, but other then that the boy made no other response to the pain.

"Okay, easy does it, Brac. It's done." Alec rubbed a hand through the back of Brac's hair briefly before easing him back onto the pillows.

Brac stopped him mid-action and gripped Alec's bicep tightly, "Dad?"

"'S'up?"

Brac's eyes filled with tears once more but his face remained set in an impassive expression as he looked up at his father.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, looking Alec dead in the eye, "I'll never run away again, I…"

"Stop it." Alec cut him off, leaning forward and dipping his head as he held Brac's shoulders, "I'm the one who should be apologizing here. What happened to you in Southview, everything you went through…"

"It's not your fault!" Brac cried out, seeming almost angrier with Alec for blaming himself then he could ever have been for the events in question. "You were just scared, Dad, okay? I scared you shitless, on _purpose_, cuz I didn't wanna trust you and I didn't tell you what happened!"

"That's not the point…"

"You didn't _know_ what went down; I had _no_ right to make you that afraid!" Brac was crying again, and anger, guilt and remorse were cracking in the voice he raised at Alec, "You didn't know! It _wasn't_ your fault, it was _my_ fault. I left – she didn't take me _first_, she took me _after_ I ran away." He closed his eyes tightly and released his grip on Alec's arm as the crying came on strong, "And I'm sorry…just don't hate me; please tell Mom she doesn't have to kill me like she killed Ben, Dad, _please_!"

"Oh god..." Max cupped a hand over her mouth to hold back a sob as tears ran down the corners of her cheeks. "Brac. Brac, no. Who said that to you, oh my god..," She gripped one of Brac's hands tightly and buried her face in it to suppress her crying at the thought of anybody planting such a terrible idea into her child's head.

Alec was, in turn, completely mortified and gutted beyond description by the mere insinuation. Apparently Bren had been gearing up for both the best and worst case scenarios – if she couldn't bring Brac over to her cause, she could drive him away from his truest source of strength (Max and Alec) through his own darkest fears. It would leave Brac alone and vulnerable…and in time, the grief would turn to bitterness. And then Bren would move in for Round Two.

"I'm not…" Brac was fighting to regain control of his crying as he heaved shallow breaths through his nose and eyed his blankets in an effort to avoid Alec's intense gaze, "I mean, she didn't make me…" He paused dead in his sentence and clenched his jaw, "She tried though."

The agonizing silence that followed was like a dozen stun prods lambasting Max and Alec all at once while their son said nothing and sifted through black memories – Brac's face slowly giving way to a myriad of fears they could do little to alleviate because he was too immersed in guilt and confusion to accept help and comfort on anything but a surface level.

"Brac, listen to me." Alec spoke quietly, and Brac swallowed and chewed at his pale lower lip.

"The woman who took you – Bren? She's a psychopathic liar, you know that, right? I mean, I don't have to tell you." Alec sat down on the edge of Brac's bed, and his son went rigid at the mention of his captor.

"She's dead, right?" Brac queried quietly, pressing his lips tightly together and looking up at Alec, "Mom killed her?"

Alec blanched at the question and stole a glance at Max, who lifted her head at the question and took a deep breath.

"She'll never hurt you again, baby. I promise…"

"That's not what I asked." Brac snapped, and Max flinched at his harsh tone, watching as his eyes pooled a mixture of dread and anger, "Is the bitch dead or isn't she?"

"No. She's alive." Alec finally responded truthfully, and Max wanted to clock him for his stupid honesty. After all the years he spent lying, to everyone including her, Alec's rebound sometimes picked very inconvenient times to take a stand.

"Good." Was Brac's solid response as he leant back against his pillows as he closed his eyes and Alec narrowed his own in confusion.

"Why's it good, son?"

Brac's eyes opened and his eyebrows knit at his father's choice of words, "You know, you've never called me that before."

"Quit changing the subject. Why's it good?" Alec repeated, and Max leant forward, still clutching Brac's hand as she eyed him intently.

Brac sighed deeply and his eyes trailed the quilt over his lap, "Just cuz…you know…she said you guys…I mean I told her you wouldn't but…"

"Brac, you're not making sense." Max informed him gently, squeezing his hand and offering a dubious smile, "Just try and explain it for us, okay?"

Brac pursed his lips and snorted softly before shaking his head, "It's just…she said all this stuff 'bout how you guys were ruthless killers and you hadn't changed. I think she wanted me to believe it was in our blood, you know?" He knit his eyebrows poignantly, "I said you'd prove her wrong once you got hold of her sorry ass and that you'd lock her up forever. But," He shrugged and swallowed heavily before looking over at Max, "I'm glad you didn't, you know, waste her. Cuz that woulda made her right."

Alec exchanged a glance with Max as Brac continued in a slightly trembling voice.

"And if she was right 'bout that, it would mean she was right about everything, you know?" Brac took a shuddering breath and visible distress began to creep onto his features once more, "About me and all."

"You wanna talk about it?" Alec prompted carefully with a raise of his eyebrows, and Brac considered the question for an agonizingly long moment before he nodded slowly.

"Later." Was all he said as he closed his eyes once more, and silence reigned for a short while until Brac spoke again, "I'm hungry."

Max smiled to herself, "You wanna eat something?"

"Mm hmm," Brac mumbled and then paused, opening his eyes and scowling at her, "_No_ yoghurt."

Max chuckled and pushed back from her chair, "I'll see what I can get you. Alec, you want anything?"

"I'm good." Alec responded, prompting Max to narrow her eyebrows in concern.

"Babe, you haven't eaten since yesterday morning…"

"I know." Alec looked up at her and shrugged, "But really, I'm cool."

Max raised an eyebrow and twisted her lips in disapproval before turning and heading out of the room.

A heavy moment of anxious, uncomfortable silence blanketed the room for a minute before Alec and Brac both spoke at the same time.

"How's the shoulder?"

"Is she _here_, in the hospital?"

Alec sucked in a long, deliberate breath at his son's question, and Brac pinned his father with the staple McDowell penetrating stare that never failed to rub nerves raw given time and focus.

"Yeah, I guess she is. She's in lockdown though – don't worry." Alec rubbed his face and returned the stare with a patented one of his own, "Brac, you know we're gonna keep you safe now, right?"

"I know." Brac responded in a small voice as he studied the needles in his veins, "But you're not gonna be able to do that forever."

Alec grinned wanly, "I wouldn't cash the cheque on that bet, kiddo."

"Dad, you don't _get_ it!" Brac sounded exhausted and looked even worse, but his eyes held a bleary fire that matched the weak flame licking at his tone.

"There's nothing to get, Brac!" Alec insisted matter-of-factly as he raised his eyebrows at his boy, "It's like you telling us you'll never run away again. You mean it, don't you?"

Brac's eyelids fluttered, "Yeah of course, but…"

"_But_ nothing. You're with us now and there is no way in _hell_ your mom and I are letting _anybody_ get at you again. And _we_ mean it too."

Brac bit his lip and turned his head away as his eyes welled with fresh tears. He suddenly glanced down in surprise to see Alec placing a hand over his own.

"It's okay, baby." His dad's voice was rough, a quiet rumble away from a whisper as he gripped Brac's icy hand in his strong, warm one and looked at him earnestly, "You can cry – I've got you."

That was it. The dam broke all over again. Brac abandoned the pretense of strength he'd been trying to hide behind for his parents' sake and burst into deep, silent sobs. His shoulders shook as he leant forward, closing his eyes tightly and covered them with his free hand.

Alec said nothing. He merely moved to the chair beside the head of Brac's head and placed an arm around his son's shoulders, carefully drawing Brac against his chest and resting his chin on the boy's hair. Brac shook with the heaviest form of crying – silent and shuddering – as he clung to Alec's shoulders, gripping the fabric of his sweater tightly and burying his face in the crook of his father's neck.

When Max returned ten minutes later with several cartons of apricot jello (Brac's favorite) and a large bottle of orange juice, she found Brac fast asleep, curled up against the left side of his bed with his hand fisted tightly in Alec's sweater. Alec, in turn, was slouched back in his chair, chin resting on his chest and one hand closed over Brac's wrist – also fast asleep.

Max smiled and quietly made her way to the bedside, placing the food and juice on the desk and pausing to check Brac's various monitoring machines and IVs. Relieved to find that all was well, she bent down and carefully kissed her sleeping son's forehead, repeated the gesture with Alec and then quietly left the room.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky when Alec woke up, his eyes blinking and then squinting at the piercing beams of light razoring through the blinds of the ward's windows. He rubbed his eyes and ran his fingers over his face and through his hair, his eyes taking a moment to recover from their long period of inactivity before they informed Alec of something very important.

Brac's bed was empty.

Alec felt his heart begin to thump against his chest as he jumped up from his chair, taking in the sight of the disconnected needles, heart and respiratory monitors, the blood pressure strap and blood drips.

"Oh you _didn't_."

Alec glanced quickly around the room and realized Brac's portable IV was absent. He rested his hands on the bed bar and took a deep, calming breath before heading out of the room to find his son.

"Excuse me." Alec snagged the nearest white-jacketed man, "You wouldn't happen to have seen a kid wandering around this floor, would you?"

"Could you be a little more specific?" The man intoned dryly.

"Yeah, he's uh about your height, blonde hair, green eyes, looks about fifteen – might be dragging an IV around with him?" Alec raised his eyebrows hopefully and tried not to sound as frantic as he felt.

"Look, sir, I only came in to work about an hour ago." The man shook his head, "You'll have better luck with Reception – they're just around the corner."

"Thanks." Alec didn't wait around as he headed quickly down the hall, frowning anxiously at everything and everyone as he pulled out his cell phone and speed-dialed Max.

"Max, it's me." He poked his head into the bathrooms briefly and, not seeing any sign of Brac, moved on swiftly, "Where are you?"

"I'm with Joshua. He woke up this morning, his usual chirpy self." Max sounded as relieved as Alec felt, "He's sleeping right now but he wanted to see you later on."

"Yeah well we've got a bit of a situation here. Brac's gone. You seen him?"

"What do you mean, gone?" Max questioned, concern ringing in her voice even through the poor hospital reception.

"His bed's empty, his drips are all out. I dunno where he is – have a look around for him, will you?" Alec tried to control the tightness in his chest threatening to burst through skin and bone as he continued combing the area for any signs of their son.

"I'll call as soon as I find him." Max replied reassuringly, and Alec was amazed at her calm.

_This had __**better**__ just be Brac in the light of a miraculous recovery makin' a dash for the cafeteria_. Alec found himself, for _once_, hoping his adolescent kid had pulled a fast one on them. The alternative was terrifying him beyond reason.

* * *

Max stalked through the patient's facility wing in an anxious search for Brac. She kept her jaw wired tightly shut to prevent a rising flood of panic balking for centre stage, choosing to remain calm despite all inclinations to the contrary.

_There __**has**__ to be some logical reason behind this_. Max told herself with a conciliatory nod, quickening her stride nonetheless as she rounded a corner…and stopping dead in her tracks as she came into view of the cafeteria.

There, at one of the tables, sat her son, IV drip on wheels parked beside his chair. And sitting across from Brac, leaning across the table and speaking in hushed tones, was Linda Sandburg.

Max was bombarded with so many conflicting reactions to the situation that her mental hard drive went on overload.

Brac was sitting rigidly still, clothed in the uniform white T-shirt and blue cotton pants of the hospital patient. His jaw was clenched tightly, and his eyes were drilling a hole in Linda as the woman continued to speak to him.

Max watched, dumbfounded curiosity overriding her raging internal debate, as Linda swallowed heavily and looked away for a minute before she moved the hand she was resting on the table to hover fleetingly over Brac's.

Brac's shoulder's squared and he glared at Linda challengingly with the quiet, deadly gaze he shared with Alec.

The woman's eyes fell and she retracted her hand, shaking her head and slipping something towards Brac across the table which he stared at but didn't take. After a moment, Linda nodded and stood up from the table, her lips smirking but her eyes glimmering with something akin to tears as she shouldered her bag and sauntered off without a glance behind her.

Brac sat, unmoving, his eyes glued to the table and his lateral muscles tightened severely along with his jaw. After a moment, Max saw him swear softly under his breath and barely had time to wear a neutral expression as he glanced up – directly at her.

Max was about to flash a smile, but stopped short when she saw Brac's eyes filling with tears and drilling into her own with…

She'd seen that look on both her son and her mate's faces before.

It was an expression of complete betrayal and disbelief.

When Brac made no move to get up from the table, Max headed over and stood beside him cautiously, arms crossed over her chest.

"You shouldn't be out of bed yet." She began.

"You shouldn't have lied to me." He responded stonily between gritted teeth, eyes welling with repressed tears as they stared up at his mother.

"We didn't." Max responded with a raise of her eyebrows.

"That's not the fucking point!" Brac yelled hoarsely, and Max stiffened, feeling the eyes trained on them as passersby glanced dubiously at the scene.

"Right here's not the place for this discussion." Max stated quietly, and Brac gave her an open-mouthed scowl of incredulity.

"I don't _give_ a shit! You wanna talk about _impropriety_, Mom? Why don't you start with the part where you and Dad choked back on the fact that _Linda Sandburg_ was cashing in on Bren's _scam_ the whole fucking time!"

"Brac," Max raised her eyebrows and flashed him a warning look, "We can go back to your room and then I promise we can talk about this."

"Oh I'll bet!" Brac scoffed, his upper lip baring a set of grit teeth as he angrilyl batted away the hand Max was reaching for his IV drip. "You're gonna try explaining how you failed to realize Nyxie was dishin' herself up to be Bren's freaking guinea pig? For _me_, so she could find _me_!"

Max could hear the guilt crackling directly underneath Brac's brimming anger and quickly sussed out the core reason for her son's outburst of rage.

"We're going back to your room." She tactfully avoided Brac's gaze as she athered up the feed from his IV, knowing that direct eye contact was at least 50 percent of the ammo both Brac and Alec used in confrontations. "We can talk there, Brac, alright, but you need to get back to bed."

Brac was silent for a minute, his lips closed tightly and his nose inhaling and exhaling slow, deep breaths. Finally he slammed his fists down on the table and used them to push himself into a standing position.

Max didn't respond to the unbridled anger oozing from her son, instead unobstrusively wheeling along his IV as she and Brac began to walk. She wanted to steady him, as it was clear each step cost him effort and his face turned a paler shade of ashen, the reddish black rims around his eyes standing out harshly as he did so.

But Brac was seething. And he shared the trait of _not_ wanting to be touched when he was enraged with his mother.

Max opted instead for locating a wheelchair, which Brac (predictably) refused to ride in until Max threatened to carry him over her shoulder all the way to the room if he refused.

* * *

They took the elevator in silence, and as Max pushed Brac's wheelchair down the hall, she rounded a corner and bumped into Alec.

Max watched as the dark fear on her mate's left with a heavy sigh as Alec assessed Brac with a quick once-over.

"Everything okay?"

"He's fine." Max assured him as she continued to walk towards the room.

"I just went to the freaking bathroom. You people, man!" Brac snapped, his eyes focused tersely on the hallway ahead of him as Alec walked alongside Max and the two exchanged a glance (Alec a lucid scowl and Max a cautioning, don't-rise-to-the-bait eyebrow arch).

"Brac, you can't just 'take up your bed and walk', alright? You're not even _close_ to up to that right now." Alec shot back in a less-then-pleased tone as he narrowed his eyebrows in disapproval at his son and held open the door.

"God, not even twenty-four hours back with you two and it's 'let's lecture Brac' time already!" Brac ground out indignantly, placing his hands on the wheels of his chair and spinning away from Max the moment they were through the door.

"If I'm not mistaken, it was _me_ getting the tongue-lashing downstairs in the middle of the cafeteria, Brac!" Max responded, her tone civil but not curt and her face deadpanning to match as she closed the door behind her.

"Oh believe me, Mother, that was just Round One!" Brac hissed out, and at this point, Alec interjected.

"Alright, what the hell is going on with you two, huh?"

Both Max and Brac went silent at the question, and it only took a moment for Alec's depleted stock of patience to run dry of its reserves.

"Max? Brac? Someone wanna help me out here?" He pushed away from the wall he'd been leaning on, "Cuz last I checked, the _bathroom_ was nowhere near the _cafeteria_."

Brac rolled his eyes acerbically, "I just needed some air…"

"Right, and the uh thought never crossed your mind that all those little needles and pads mighta been hooked up to you for some reason of _importance_?" Alec's voice rose ever so slightly on the last word but he quickly regained control. The last thing he and Max wanted was to recommence squabbling with their son, especially at that point in time when comfort and understanding were paramount to Brac's recovery.

"Yeah, and the thought never crossed _your_ mind that filling me in on Linda Sandburg's part in everything mighta been something of equal _importance_?" Brac launched his response in a somewhat routed manner as he swiveled his chair to cast Alec the same expression of confusion and hurt he'd given Max.

Alec opened his mouth and then shut it tightly before he turned Max, "What happened?"

"I found him in the cafeteria with Linda." She answered quietly, her eyes downcast before she shot a quick, measured look at her son, and then at Alec, to assess how much damage control would need to be done.

"Shit," Alec whispered, and Max watched his jaw clench as he pinched the bridge of his nose briefly before looking away with a snort of disbelief, "I'm gonna kill her."

"Why, because she 'fessed?" Brac spread his hands and leant forward in his chair indignantly, "I mean, yeah, the woman should rot in hell, but at least she told me the _truth_…"

"Brac…" Max began.

"Which is more then I can say for _either_ of _you_!" Brac finished, ignoring Max's interjection as he rested his elbows on his knees and cast his parents a belligerent stare of anguish, "And before you say 'we were gonna tell you', I'll ask _when_? Huh? When I'm _better_, when this has all _gone away_? I'm not _getting_ better – it's not _going_ away!"

"Don't ever say that." Alec replied quietly, eyes half-lidded with steel as he gazed down at Brac, taking a few token steps closer, "And don't ever _do_ that again! Do you have _any_ idea what we've been through? You're not the only one who's been affected by this, Brac…"

"I never said that, I just…"

"You don't think every second of every day was living hell for us?" Alec's voice was low and his eyes were narrowed, but they were beginning to glimmer with the makings of a tear as he pointed at Brac. "You wanna talk about scaring us? How do you think it felt waking up this morning and finding you _gone_, looking at your bed and seeing you weren't in it? How do you think that made us feel, huh?"

Max could tell by the slight widening of Brac's eyes and the way he froze in Alec's view like a deer in headlights that he was clearly shaken by the rare display of emotion.

"I'm sorry." Brac uttered quietly, large eyes glued to Alec under eyebrows that titled up in sincerity, "I…I didn't mean to scare you, Dad, I just…I'm sorry."

Alec pulled in his lips and rubbed his jaw as he turned away from both Max and Brac, and both of them could see plainly that he was struggling to regain control.

"It's fine." Alec finally mumbled in a low, gravelly voice as he strode to the window and placed a hand on the blinds, "Just….don't it again, okay?"

"Yes, sir." Brac's eyes shot to Max's in a befuddled plea for help.

"I said it was _fine_, Brac." Alec ground out, sounding irritated at more then just the fact his son had called him 'sir' again as he remained facing the window.

Max studied her boys for the long, agonizing minute of silence it took before there was a brief rap on the door.

"Come in." Max called when both Alec and Brac remained static.

The door cracked slowly open and a petite head of lusty brown hair poked halfway inside.

"Is he sleeping?" Nyx whispered cautiously, and Max was glad for the smile that broke across her face as Brac called out "No he is _not_ sleeping!" and his sister charged into the room without a moment's hesitation.

"Brac!" Nyx dropped to a crouch and barreled into the arms her brother was opening for her, squeezing him tightly and burying her face in his shoulder, "Oh I'm so glad you're alright! I don't know what I would've done if…if…" She suddenly pulled away and leant back on her heels, "Oh my gosh! I'm sorry, I was hurting you, wasn't I?"

Brac cracked a wide grin and laughed softly, and the glow that spread across his face was enough to overpower the golden rays of the afternoon sun, "It's okay, Nyxie, I'm fine!"

"My ass, you're fine." She retorted, standing up and planting her hands on her hips as she raised her eyebrows intimidatingly at Max, "What's he doing out of bed anyhow, huh? Shouldn't he be resting?"

"Didn't know you'd been appointed Home Dictator since I've been gone!" Brac's teasing remark was an intentional request for silence from both Max and Alec. "Come on and wheel me back to my bed-ridden state then, kill-joy."

"It's not anything to joke about, Brac!" Nyx remonstrated sourly, both her tone and expression echoing Max to a T as she obliged her brother, "You may have Mom and Dad wrapped around your little finger, but Little Sis is back in town and is officially taking over all proceedings, _including_," Nyx poked Brac in the chest carefully and raised her eyebrows as he gingerly moved into bed, "getting your ass some food. Look, jello – eat it!" She ordered matter-of-factly, swiping up the carton Max had left on the counter and waving the plastic spoon at Brac.

"Nyx, you look bushed, kid." Brac responded seriously as Nyx appropriated Alec's chair by his bed and peeled off the carton's lid.

"Thanks. You're not looking too hot yourself, Brother Dearest. And don't call me kid." Nyx lectured, squinting at the label of the jello for a moment to ensure all was well with the ingredients (the McDowell overprotectiveness ran hot and deep in all of their blood – Nyx being the youngest made her _no_ exception).

"You sure you want apricot flavor, Brac? Cuz this has artificial sweetener in it instead of sugar which isn't necessarily better for you and…"

"Nyx, take a breath!" Alec called jibingly as he remained by the window but twisted to flash his daughter a mocking grin...and, Max knew, to secretly appraise her condition.

Both she and Alec had been keeping their fingers crossed for the full recession of Nyx's respiratory illness. Besides the dark circles under her eyes and the unkempt state of her hair, Nyx was looking relatively healthy and whole.

_But that could easily be cuz she's sitting next to Brac_. Max reminded herself.

"But seriously," Brac was saying as he leant forward and assessed his little sister with a long, critical gaze that he had inherited from both parents and that never allowed anything to slip under its radar, "You're okay?"

Nyx paused and glanced up at Brac with dubious eyes that darted from side to side, "Eeyeah. Thank you, Mr Intensive Care Patient, I'm peachy. Now can you stop talking and get some food inside you, please? You're _anorexic_."

"That's an eating disorder, squirt." Brac reminded her duly as he accepted the jello carton and spoon from his sister, "What?" He demanded at her squinty pout of disapproval.

"Oh come on?" Nyx huffed indignantly, "Don't I get to feed it to you, just one time?"

Brac eyed her with disdain, "You've seen too many hospital soap operas. I'm not gonna let you _feed_ me. Are you crazy?" He shoveled a spoonful of jello into his mouth with a raise of his eyebrows to seal the argument.

"Fine. Be that way." Nyx leaned back in her seat in disgruntled defeat before looking up at Alec and Max, "Oh by the way, Mom and Dad? Doctor Johnston's outside in the hallway – he asked to see." She furrowed her eyebrows, "Something about Mole."


	28. Chapter 28

_**This being the final chapter of How About No**, it is with no small amount of sadness that I bid farewell to the McDowell clan. **I have promised a final one shot**, but I'm tossing that up against the idea of 'leaving well enough alone'. **If you read this and you feel there are still issues that haven't been sufficiently addressed** (which would be my only reason for writing a final one-shot) **please let me know** as much. Other then that, seeing as this is the last chapter, **it would mean a lot to me if those of you who haven't reviewed** so far or have not done so regularly, **could take the time to grace us with your thoughts, impressions and reflections**__. Thank you all and I've greatly enjoyed the ride with each of you._

**_-- Tyler_**

* * *

Brac glanced up from his food instantly at the statement to cast his parents a shell-shocked expression.

"Josh and Mole…" He said slowly, eyes clouding over with a whole new wave of fear as Alec stepped away from the window, "Did they make it out okay? I…I don't remember a lot, but…"

"They're fine." Max assured him, approaching the bed with every intention of reconnecting Brac to the multiple IVs and blood drips. "Just a little banged up."

"Mom, stop bullshitting me." Brac responded in an aggravated tone as she stood over his bed, "The tunnel collapsed, alright, I remember that much, and…and the grenade, what's with that…"

"Brac, quit tryin' to shift the limelight!" Nyx ordered, doing her own form of damage control from her position opposite Max, "Mom said they're fine, they're fine. That's all there is to it."

"Just stop lying to me!" Brac ignored his sister as he raised his eyebrows at Max, "I don't need you to softpeddle everything for me, alright? It's not like I haven't gone without for the last freaking month here, okay?"

"Oh really? So it's all goddamn cool with you, is that it?" Max finally snapped in response, "Cuz that wasn't the way it looked last night when I walked in and found you vice-gripping your dad in a fetal position!"

"I'm dealing, okay?" Brac yelled, "And yeah, it's gonna take some time, but I need to know I can fucking trust my own fucking parents to tell me what the hell is going on!"

"And _we_ need to know we can trust our own fucking son to stay in bed instead of trying to kill himself by running off!" Max replied in like tone with a death glare and rigid shoulders.

"Well since we're being petty, I said 'fucking' _twice_!" Brac threw back coldly with a tight scowl of confrontation.

"Max!" It was Alec's turn to play the diplomat as the man placed himself cautiously between his mate and son and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Johnston wants to see us, okay?" He guided her towards the door with an arm around her shoulders and Max didn't protest, "Let's go, come on."

"I wanna see them!" Brac called out insistently after his parents.

"Brac, shut _up_!" Nyx whispered between gritted teeth, but as was his habit, her brother ignored her.

"Not today, Brac." Alec responded evenly, not turning around as he opened the door for Max and she quickly stepped through.

Brac pressed his lips tightly together in frustration and let out a scoff of complete exasperation which prompted Alec to finally turn around and point not at him but at Nyx.

"Get your brother hooked back up to his IVs and monitor. You know how to do it, right?"

"Uh huh." Nyx nodded.

"Okay. We'll be back as soon as we can. If you need anything, give us a buzz, we've got our cells."

Brac rolled his eyes and slammed his head back against his pillow.

Nyx waved Alec off with a dismissing hand as the door shut behind him and she turned to smile at Brac.

"So…" She ignored the acid sideways scowl he was sending her way as she fished around her shoulder bag and pulled out a token item with a grin, "…cards?"

* * *

"You know what I just don't get?" Max hissed, still in a broiling mood as she traipsed rapidly down the hall, Alec close at her heels, "How the hell that kid can have the nerve to tell us he's alright after spending half the night in tears! I just don't freaking get it, Alec!"

"He's 'dealing', remember? It's fine, it's nothing new." Alec tucked his hands into his jeans' pocket after giving Max's shoulder one final squeeze.

"Yes this _is_ new, Alec!" Max stopped dead in her tracks and turned to look him straight in the eyed. "When Brac was in the hospital after White got him, it was different. He was shaken up and beat to hell, but other then that he gave us every indication he was okay."

"Yeah well he wasn't," Alec stated flatly.

"Exactly. And the fact he wouldn't let us help him and kept it all inside made it much, much worse." Max's anger had dissipated now and instead her face was a picture to match the concern in her voice, "Brac was 'dealing' for months after what happened and personally I think he's still not over it. Now this time around?" She raised her eyebrows as Alec held his tongue and dipped his head to wait for her to finish her sentence, "We're helping him. And he is _not_ pushing us away."

"Max?"

Alec sighed and raised an eyebrow as he titled his chin up resignedly at his mate, holding her gaze as Max pressed her lips together and her eyebrows flickered before she turned to answer Johnston's call.

"Hey," She offered as he approached and then doctor flashed a brief smile before nodding at both her and Alec.

"I'll be in to check up on Brac's progress later on in the day. How's he doing, by the way?"

"He's holding up." Max replied with a wan yet optimistic smile.

"Dude," Alec said, leaning his left side against the wall and gripping his bicep with one hand as he waved the other one at Johnston, "_Go home_, before it ends up being _Brac_ checkin' up on _you_!"

Johnston smirked, looking beat and trembling ever so slightly with a caffeine overdose, "Nah, these newbies don't know shit, excuse my French. I wouldn't trust one of them near a transgenic _fly_, let alone a _patient_. Especially not one of mine." He knit his eyebrows, "Speaking of which, maybe it was just the rumor mill, but I heard Brac was actually up and around this afternoon? Someone saw him in the the cafeteria or something?"

"You wanted to see us about Mole?" Max's eyebrows arched, and Alec cast her a sideline glance which Johnston caught but didn't call.

"Yes, about that." He instead motioned them to some chairs that were parked along a wall a few feet away, "There are some complications with his treatment." He raised his eyebrows at the transgenics, indicating once more that they should sit, but neither Max nor Alec made any pretence of movement (well, the former glowered matter-of-factly at him).

"We're not sitting down; what complications?" Alec queried bluntly.

"No worries – he should pull through alright. But he's in a lot of pain still, it seems, and during the only bout of consciousness Mole had, he asked for methodol. Now we've already given him the maximum dosage of opioid drugs his body should be able to take at this point in his treatment."

"Transgenics can handle up to…" Max began, but Johnston cut her off with an impatient wave of his hand.

"Yes, I know how much they can handle, Max, thank you. Your friend made a point of reminding me when he woke up and collared me halfway through his operation!" He snapped, and behind Max, Alec winced and sucked in his breath at the unpleasant mental picture.

"The point is that Mole is insisting on methodol and medically as well as morally, I can't really give him that, as much as I would like to relieve his pain." Johnston blew out a breath, rubbing his balding head as Max twisted to exchange a distressed look with her mate. "Look, Mole's in no condition to sign a consent form, but he indicated that his _next of kin_ were empowered to do it for him should the situation present itself." He raised his eyebrows and handed Max a clipboard, "Here."

She squinted at the paperwork displayed and realized with no small amount of surprise that Mole had her and Alec listed as his 'next of kin' as well as medical proxies in case of an emergency.

"Whoa." Alec muttered over her shoulder as he scanned the document, "Okay he is _never_ hearing the end of this one once it all blows over." He couldn't resist a snicker as he snagged the clipboard off Max for a closer inspection, "Wonder what we're listed as…oh look, according to Mole, Maxie, we're his niece and nephew, removed _way_ too many times to count!"

"It's not funny, Alec!" Max reminded him as she crossed her arms over her chest and furrowed up her eyebrows in alarm, "You realize he's asking us to decide whether or not he can pump more _drugs_ into his system?"

Alec abruptly stopped laughing, "Oh he can forget about it."

"Just like that?" Johnston's forehead crinkled and his mouth hung slightly open as Alec nodded emphatically and Max shrugged in approval.

"If the idiot wanted to kill himself so bad, he shouldn't've been stupid enough to make us his seconds." Alec raised his eyebrows firmly and Johnston fought the urge to feel crestfallen at the disappearance of the glimmer of mirth that had flashed for a minute.

One of the things he thrived on was Max and Alec's youthful ardor – the years of politicing, policing and parenthood hadn't managed to squeeze it out of them and for that Johnston was highly grateful. But over the last year, the doctor had watched Max and Alec (and their family) get put through the wringer in a whole new way. And each of the times they had walked into hospital with a sick or injured kid in tow, a little more of the X5 couple's ain't-life-greatness was whittled away.

"Alright. Look, I think you guys should talk to him about this though. He's pretty pissed off at the moment." Johnston offered, and Max nodded.

"Soon as he wakes up, give us a buzz."

"Right, now I have to ask," Johnston raised his eyebrows at the pair, "because it's my job, and because I take personal interest in Brac's recovery." He noticed Alec's eyes roll full circle at the wall uncomfortably and Max's mouth tighten, "Rumor has it he was up and about barely an hour ago. Sherry tells me Brac was dragging an IV around with bare feet in a _T-shirt _and hospital sweats. Not only that, but he was sitting in a _draft_ in the cafeteria _three_ floors down from his room for _forty-five_ minutes."

"It won't happen again." Alec stated stiffly, and Johnston's eyebrows arched even higher.

"Look, I know I've been optimistic about your son's recovery, but there's a long way to go before Brac's back to full health." He cast a glance at Max, "He needs bed rest and fluids, food if he can eat it. Brac's stubborn as hell, we all know it, but you guys have _got_ to put your foot down on this one and make him get his rest…"

"I said it wouldn't happen again!" Alec repeated in a slightly harsher voice, and Johnston continued, undaunted.

"You making sure of that, Alec?" He watched Alec's jaw tighten and his eyes half-close and ignored the glare, turning to raise his eyebrows at Max, "Max? Because I can only treat him – I can't tell him he can't act on a sudden urge for a stroll in the park!"

"Brac's gonna rest up. Don't sweat it." Max jutted out her chin and graced Johnston with a determined look which convinced the frustrated family doctor of her sincerity.

"Okay." Johnston sighed heavily as his eyes strayed to his clipboard once more, "I'll be in in about an hour to check up on Brac. I also wanted to run a few test on Nyx to ensure that all's well with her breathing, if that's alright by you."

"Speaking of Nyx's breathing," Alec interjected, and Max ran her hands through her hair despairingly, "anything you wanna tell us about that little check-up you ran on her a few days back?"

"Alec…" Johnston raised an eyebrow at him unapologetically as he continued.

"No offense, but you're bustin' your head against a brick wall if you think Max and I aren't gonna find out about everything goin' on with our kids." Alec returned the matter-of-fact eyebrow-raise as he dipped his head to emphasize his point, "Nyx or Brac tell you to keep something under wraps, save yourself the effort."

"I have to respect patient confidentially…"

"They're eleven and thirteen!" Max cut in, "They're not eligible for any kinda 'patient confidentiality', not from us, Johnston!"

Johnston squared his shoulders and sighed through his nose in frustration, but the tense moment was spared further drama by a young assistant approaching him tentatively.

"Dr Johnston?" The young man raised his eyebrows and his eyes flickered nervously to Alec and Max for a moment, "Dr Alan would like to see you in Surgery for a moment, if you have time."

"I'll be right in," Johnston nodded at the assistant, who scurried away with a final backwards glance at Max and Alec.

There was a heavy moment of silence before Johnston cleared his throat.

"Well, if you'll excuse me." He turned swiftly and headed down the hall without another word.

Max swallowed and folded her arms around herself, looking up at Alec who shook his head away from her and muttured something between a sardonic grin.

"You went to see Bren yesterday." She turned fully to face him, "Anything happen I should know about?"

"Max, you got _two_ kids, not three." Alec responded with the same dark grin as he ruffled her hair and swiped up a paper cup from the water dispenser machine nearby, filling it up underneath the faucet. "Don't worry about it. She's still got all four limbs and a rattlecan head on her shoulders. Just wanted to find out all the stuff Brac may or may not tell us 'later'."

"And?" Max raised her eyebrows expectantly, and he shrugged, lips pressed together as he bent over the water dispenser and watched his cup fill up intently.

"Bitch fed him crap every night about me and you, 'bout our history at Manticore, every vile thing we've ever done." He sniffed and turned his head to glance at Max ironically, "I'm guessing there was more dirt on me then you considering you jumped ship in '09."

Max's eyes shifted and then closed briefly before she lifted her shoulders briefly, "Brac's a smart kid. He knows when someone's lying to him." She could tell Alec was clearly not at ease with his boy having the full scoop on all his misdeeds, especially not if said tales had been fed Brac by a phsycopath.

"Yeah but realistically, Max, how much of that crap do you think Bren had to actually pimp up, huh?" He straightened fully and cast Max a regretful, almost morose expression, "I mean, let's face it, the things they made us do…" Alec shook his head, "The things they made us believe…" His eyes bore a heavy weight as he averted them from Max's own concerned ones. "I did field work for _years_, Maxie. How many of those missions do you think involved knocking someone off or making'em wish I did?"

Max was quiet for a minute, her eyes holding Alec's frame gently as he knocked back his water and then finally sank down in one of the seats, eyes trained on the ground ahead of him but really seeing the full spectrum of his past.

"What happened back then doesn't matter now." Max stated softly as she sat down beside Alec and took his hand in her own, "I know who you are. And so does Brac – I mean, yeah, you two have your ups and downs, but anyone can see how much he secretly adores you…"

"It's not how it was, Max." Alec cut her off grimly, "Once, yeah, maybe, but now?" He shook his head and flicked at the rim of his empty cup, "Kid's afraid of me, Max. Used to be he was only afraid when he'd done somethin' majorly bad, but nowadays, I dunno."

"Brac knows who you are." Max cupped Alec's knee in her hand and leant forward with worried eyes, "He wouldn't put stock in any shit Bren told him, not after what she said about him."

"For crying out loud, Max!" Alec snapped, and Max distinctly felt the edge in his voice and underlying upset in his eyes were aimed at no-one but himself, "You've _seen_ it, alright? You _know_ – I mean, the way he calls me 'Sir', like I'm some sort of _drill sergeant_ who'll haul off and sock him if he doesn't do as he's told!"

"It's just his way of showing you respect! It's in his blood; you can't blame him for it." Max insisted, and Alec scowled at the reluctant truth of the statement.

"I don't want his freaking respect, Max! Brac's my son, okay? I'd settle for seein' him flash _one_ smile that was honestly happy, just _one_."

Max flinched at that one and felt her heart sag a little further as she reflected on her mate's words.

Alec swallowed and muttured a curse under his breath, which was the telltale sign of the man struggle to ward off an overwhelming tide of emotions. Max watched from the corner of her eye, fighting off tears as Alec rested his elbows on his knees and let his head drop into his hands.

"I just wanna see him happy, Max." Alec muttered as she slung a protective arm around his broad shoulders and ran her fingers up and down the back of his neck, "I'd give anything for it. Anything."

"Me too." Max admitted in a whisper, pressing her lips against Alec's shirt as she did so, "It'll happen again, you'll see. Just gonna take some time, is all."

"This is a security announcement." The voice droning matter-of-factly on the overhead speakers caused both X5s to glance up, "All non-residents vacate the premises immediately. I repeat, all non-residents vacate the premises immediately. There has been a security breach. Please move calmly towards your nearest exit and proceed with caution. I repeat, there has been a security breach…"

Screw repeats. The female announcer had barely issued her first warning when Max and Alec were approached by a frantic-looking Johnston the moment they rose swiftly to their feet.

"I don't know how on earth this happened." The doctor informed them with wide, disbelieving eyes, "But Bren's somehow busted out of hold."

"Brac." Max uttered in alarm, and she turned on her heels to jog alongside Alec, who was already running back down the hall towards their son's room.

* * *

"We've locked down her floor, but this place is crawling with people!" Johnston explained as he managed to tag shortly behind Max's heels, "It's a smaller hospital, but it's still treacle getting it evacuated. I've demanded a team be stationed outside Brac's door. They'll be up any second now."

"You gotta lock every freaking floor down, Johnston!" Max insisted, "Trust me, she'll be out of here long before anybody else."

"Max, that kind of decision isn't…"

"Just do it or you'll be moppin' up body parts – Bren leaves a damn messy raisin trail!" Max barked as they burst into Brac's room to find him already out of bed and yanking his IVs out of his arm.

"Get back into bed!" Nyx was yelling at him, hovering as close as she could but evidently not considering tackling her brother worth the potential damage.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Max demanded frantically, closing the distance between them and gripping Brac's biceps as he struggled to free himself from the myriad of drips and monitors.

"It's me she'll target! If I go out there, I'll draw her to us…"

"The hell you will." Alec responded staunchly, joining Max in her hazardous task of placing their injured, resistant son back into bed.

"She ran rings around you guys for a _month_!" Brac yelled in frustration, pausing in his efforts only after Max had successfully clamped his arms by his sides and Alec's hands were pinning him against the mattress. "You're not catchin' her, not on your own!"

"Yeah well _you're_ not throwin' yourself out there as bait! I don't care _how_ much sense it makes!" Alec insisted, "Not this time, Brac, you understand me?"

"Max, Alec! We need you guys out here _today_!" Johnston hovered anxiously in the doorway, taking in the distressing sight with narrow eyes occupied by far more urgent matters.

"You heard him, Brac!" Max stated as Brac ceased squirming, chest still heaving and lips pressed tightly together in aggravation as his parents held him fast.

"Every second we spend here is another chance for Bren to get away, so what's it gonna be?" She continued with a tight raise of her eyebrows.

"Get the fuck out of here, that's what!" Brac snapped back, "Before that bitch runs free!"

"Oh really?" Alec scowled at him skeptically, "So if we walk out of here, _you're_ not going to!"

"No!"

"Make that a promise and you've got yourself a deal!" Alec responded ruthlessly.

"Alright! I promise!" Brac strained out the words with great effort through grit teeth.

"Not buying it." Max barked, but she and Alec released their grip on Brac and he pushed up onto his elbows.

"Yeah well it's the best I've got for you right now, so take it or freaking leave it!" Brac's face morphed into a picture of desperation for a brief moment, "Mom, _please_! She's getting away, you gotta go _now_!"

"Fine." Max stated stonily, evidently unconvinced of her son's sincerity but realizing trust was the only plausible course of action right just then. She nodded at Alec, who was obviously staving off feelings twin to her own as he stared hard at Brac.

"Come on, let's go." Max clapped a hand on his shoulder and then headed for the door without another word. "Nyx, watch out for your brother and stay put no matter what."

"I got it!" Nyx replied confidently as Alec turned and followed on Max's heels, sweeping a hand over the top of his daughter's hair on his way past.

"Keep the door locked and stay inside. We'll come back as soon as it's blown over." He paused in his tracks and turned to aim a finger in Brac's direction, "You'd _better_ be here when we get back."

Brac rolled his eyes but apparently wasn't feeling daring enough for backtalk at that precise moment in time. Instead he leant back in his bed and crossed his arms, closing his eyes tightly in frustration as the door slammed shut behind his parents.

Nyx twisted the lock closed and pulled in her lips as she cast a quick glance through the thick glass at the utter chaos reigning in the hallway outside. Alec and Max stuck around long enough to ensure that the four security guards Johnston had sent were properly drilled before they took off out of sight.

Nyx blew out a breath and then squared her shoulders as she turned to face Brac, "Do you need help?" She tentatively motioned to the extracted needles and drips still dangling beside the bed.

He shook his head and stiffened suddenly, sitting up in bed and pressing a finger to his lips.

Nyx narrowed her eyebrows in confusion and was about to voice a question, when a clanging sounded above them. Both siblings flinched at the noise and Nyx's gaze followed Brac's to the vent above his bed.

Nyx's eyes tightened determinedly in sync with her brother's as the latter quickly moved from his bed. Keeping a sharp eye on the vent, Brac signaled for Nyx to make for the door.

She had barely had time to register the command when a bare foot plowed straight through the plastic vent, kicking it in and sending a shower of fragments onto Brac's vacant bed.

"Go!" Brac's yell was drowned out by the noise of a body landing in a ball onto his mattress. Bren uncoiled and wasted no time in time diving into Brac in a flying leap, knocking him to the ground.

Nyx wasted no time, breaking into a run as she crossed the distance between herself and the onslaught. Bren was stemmed in her vicious set of hooks she was laying into Brac with her good arm by the tenacious kick Nyx aimed at her head.

Bren toppled to the side, reeling temporarily from the blow but recovering alarmingly fast. Fueled by copious amounts of adrenalin and a burning desire for vengeance, the X5 woman was ruthless in her attack. Brac, still pinned beneath her and spitting blood from the jabs, had barely begun to make use of the window of time Nyx's kick had given him before Bren's hands were cupping his head. She slammed his skull against the floor once and was about to do so again, but Nyx dove at Bren and sent her tumbling off Brac, both females rolling tangled in a somersault.

Bren's bony elbow slammed into the side of Nyx's head mid-roll, but Nyx used to motion to propel herself backwards and away from Bren, sending a boot flying out in front of her as she did so and catching Bren in the stomach.

Bren took the onslaught and responded by latching onto Nyx's thigh, yanking the young girl close enough for Bren to plant a particularly hard-hitting slug.

Nyx's head snapped back and slammed against the bed rail with enough conjoined force to render her an unconscious deadweight on the floor.

Brac was on his feet by now and didn't pause to contemplate his tactics (or considerable disadvantage) as he charged Bren. Acting on the flaming, overwhelming urge to protect his sister, Brac gripped Bren's shoulders and drove his knee into her face before pivoting back to sweep a kick across her upper body, knocking her off balance. Bren fell back from her knees onto her elbows and scissored her legs, knocking Brac's feet from under him and sending him crashing to the floor.

Brac blocked a swing from Bren's incoming fist and twisted her arm, slamming his other fist toward her face only to have it grabbed and used to yank him into the head Bren slammed against his forehead.

Bren straddled his torso and clenched his trachea tightly in her iron grip, bloodied face feral with determination. Brac placed both hands on Bren's wrist and tugged before working with a different tactic. He swung his legs up and managed to grip Bren around the neck from behind. Her eyes widened as he yanked backwards and she was forced onto her back.

Bren kept her vicegrip on Brac's neck as she did so, and Brac was hauled into a sisting position with Bren's legs locking suffocatingly around his waist.

Brac gasped for air but it escaped him, and he felt a crushing pressure in his lungs as Bren used her thighs to squeeze him tighter while increasing the tenacity of her grip on his neck.

A feral smile spread Bren's bleeding lips thin across her face as she put the full force of her transgenic strength into crushing the breath out of Brac.

He struggled against her grip, the air before his eyes dancing with blinking yellow dots as his oxygen-deprived body screamed at him in protest.

Bren's teeth were grit together and her eyes were ablaze with hatred.

A full minute passed.

Two minutes…

Brac's eyes were rolling up into his head and the hands with which he had been attempting to wrench free of Bren's grasp slackened and then left her wrist completely.

Bren hissed between her teeth in triumph and used her abdominal muscles to lean upwards from the floor, sitting up and slamming Brac onto his back with the hand around his throat.

Three minutes…

Using the additional pressure of the floor, Bren increased the force of strangulation, angling her good shoulder to thrust the full force of her body weight into her constriction of Brac's trachea.

His face had gone from red to blue, and it was evident that Brac in his weakened state would not hold out much longer – transgenic or no.

Four minutes…

Suddenly Brac's arm was swinging, seemingly from nowhere.

Bren drew in a deep breath of shock as the thirteen year-old nephew of 493 plunged two hypodermic needles deep into the muscles arching the sides of her neck, his thumb jamming down the tube and flooding Bren's system with its contents.

She luched, feeling her entire body stiffen then ignore brain commands entirely. Brac wrenched her hand off his throat and shoved Bren off him as she tumbled to the floor, unable to move and staring up at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.

Brac coughed as he collapsed onto his back once more and inhaled deep, gasping breaths. After a moment, he forced himself into a sitting position and cradled his head in his hands as the blood returned to his cranium, still breathing heavily as he did so.

Brac spat blood and wiped at the myriad of splits in his lip and a gash in his left eyebrow before he pulled himself laboriously into a standing position, leaning heavily on the bed rail for support as he glared down at Bren.

"Streptomycin, you bitch. Two freaking doses." Brac was still inhaling deeply through his nose as he yanked the long cord from one of his IVs and proceeded to rope Bren's ankles and working hand together in one of Max's foolproof knots.

"The amount I gave you," Brac continued acidly as he went about his work and ignored the hisses of fury from Bren, "induces a paralytic neuromuscular blockade. Most Ordinaries die from that, but you should be back to your freaky-ass self in an hour or so once your antibodies filter out the crap."

Bren's chest was heaving violently and she evidently struggling to control her breathing. Brac scowled viciously as he squatted in front of her.

"Can't breathe? Not a very nice feeling, is it?" He snatched up the oxygen mask from his bedside and snapped the strap over Bren's head, adjusting it over her mouth and nose before switching on the storage tank.

A moan from Nyx caused Brac's head to shot up, and he left Bren to herself as he quickly knelt beside his sister.

"Nyx?" Brac felt her pulse as she grunted a monosyllabic response, eyes still shut as her older brother, beaten and battered as he was, cradlded her in his lap and rested her back against the side of the hospital bed.

"Come on, Nyx, wake up, kid!" Brac insistently shook Nyx's shoulders, and she squinted at him through bleary eyes.

"My head hurts." She mumbled as she rubbed at the large welt forming on the side of her temple.

"Can you see okay? How many fingers?" Brac held up his hand and then shook Nyx as her head rolled to the side, "_Nyx_!"

"_What_?" She growled.

"How many fucking fingers?"

"Three." Nyx forced out crankily (she never took head injuries very well). Suddenly her eyes widened, "Oh my god…your face!" She drew back in alarm at the multiple rapid-forming bruises cresting Brac's cheek and jaw bones as well as manifested broken nose and a slew of small abrasions.

"It's nothing." Brac assured her as he began to help her to her feet, but Nyx waved him off her and actually ended up swinging out an arm to steady Brac as he swooned when standing.

"It's not nothing, you idiot!" Nyx seethed as Brac doubled over, clutching the bed rail for support and taking deep breaths, "Mom and Dad are gonna _kill_ you…"

"Me? I'm not the one who fucking charged her, Nyxie – what the _hell_ were you thinking?" Brac stormed back, glancing up to scowl feriociously through a bruising eye at his sister, who scoffed unapologetically.

"Oh just that you were pinned under a raging _psychopath_, Brac!"

"I don't _give_ a crap. I told you to get out of here and of course, in true _Nyxie_ style," Brac almost spat out the words, "you didn't freaking listen! You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"Or gotten _you_ killed by doing nothing?" Nyx spread her hands incredulously, "I stuck with the first option – so sue me!"

"God damnit, Nyx!" Brac yelled, and she raised her eyebrows confrontationally as he straightened and grabbed her by the shoulders, "I swear to God, you _ever_ do something like that again and…"

"And _what_, huh, Brac?"

"And fuck waiting for Dad, I'll beat your ass myself. You freaking got that, Nyx?"

"Fuck you, Brac!" Nyx shoved him in the chest and he responded by gripping her collar tightly, "You're such a goddamn fucking hypocrite…"

A sudden pounding on the door brought both McDowell's heads spinning to face it. Behind the glass stood Alec and Max, both wearing expressions which were unreadable (but indeterminably pissed off at something or another).

Brac huffed out a snort of indignation and released his grip on Nyx's collar. She scowled mordantly at him in response as she made a dramatic show of straightening the rumpled neckline of her hoodie while Brac made his way to the door (sporting a notable limp) and unlocked it for their parents.

"What happened?" Max was through the door before Brac had even gotten it open, Alec directly behind her as they rushed into the room and both made a grab for their son at the same time.

"She came through the shaft!" Brac explained hastily in an effort to placate his parents as they both somehow managed to examine his injuries without getting in each other's way.

"When?" Alec demanded, one hand tilting Brac's chin upward and the other brushing away the scruffy hair obstructing the gash in his eyebrow.

"Literally like twenty seconds after you guys left."

"And you didn't call us?" Alec sounded palpably angry at the notion.

Brac huffed once more, "She jumped me! You wanna get that question answered, why don't you talk to _your daughter_?"

"Nyx, you okay?" Max, upon catching sight of the wicked-looking bump on Nyx's head, left Brac under Alec's capable scrutiny and was at her daughter's side instantly.

"I'm fine! Mom, you have to talk to _your son_, he…"

"We can do all of this later!" Max informed her family with a silencing raise of her eyebrows to which Alec (who seemed as worked up as his children at that moment in time) responded with a scowl and an inevitable eye-roll.

"Whats up with Bren?' Max nodded at the immobile woman on the floor, and Brac dipped his head triumphantly.

"I fed her an overdose of streptomycin. Should clear up in an hour or two – just though I'd get her off our backs."

"Fine." Max turned to signall the hallway and a security team flooded the room without hesitation. "It's okay, she's incapacitated! Just get her out of here and get a doctor on her ass before she bails on a life sentence at T.O.I."

As the security team proceeded to shift Bren from the floor and radios crackled with back-and-forth communications, Max swiftly turned her back to the commotion. One look at Bren's face and Max was fairly certain she wouldn't be able to restrain herself from actually killing the bitch this time around.

Alec, on the other hand, watched with poorly-veiled triumph as Bren, still jacktied by her ankles and wrist, was carried past him and Brac towards the door.

Alec tilted his head to the side and squinted for a moment in confusion before a slow grin spread across his face and he nudged Brac.

"An IV drip?"

Brac nodded, eyes still glued to Bren's form as the security team disappeared through the door, "Never without a weapon, a Jedi is."

Alec raised his eyebrows at the ultimate kill-joy of a Stars Wars quote, but his tune quickly changed as he noted the ashen hue to Brac's face and the fear still flickering grimly in his eyes.

"You okay?"

Brac shook his head, "But I will be." He sounded confident of that as he looked up at Alec and offered him a token grin through cracked, bleeding lips.

Alec pulled in his own lips and nodded, rubbing a hand over his jaw before he nearly had the wind knocked out of him from the sudden embrace Brac uncharacteristically wrapped him in.

"Well that's one bitch down," Nyx announced coolly as the door slammed shut behind the security unit, hands on her hips as she turned to face Brac sardonically, "one more to go…oh." She narrowed her eyes skeptically as Brac allowed Alec to return the rare hug for a minute before withdrawing uncomfortably.

"Don't even _think_ about pally-pallying with him, Brac! You are _so_ in the can!" Nyx snapped, shaking a finger at her brother as Alec and Max exchanged glanced and Brac rolled his eyes while reclining into his wheelchair wearily.

"Why didn't one of you come get us?" Max questioned in a genuinely confused tone of voice as she sat at the edge of Brac's plastic-ridden bed and leant forward on her elbows, "I mean, Bren couldn't have been taking you both on at once!"

"Don't put it past her." Brac intoned darkly, "I mean, hello?" He motioned to his own injuries before waving a hand at his sister's.

"I didn't mean she wasn't capable. I just meant you're fast. One of you could've made a run for it. What happened?" Max rephrased her question patiently, and Brac sighed heavily, his face disappearing into his hand while Nyx cleared her throat.

"Bren broke through the vent and literally didn't stop to catch her breath before she jumped Brac. If I hadn't gone in…"

"_Nyx_ hung around gawking and once the action finally started, she went charging in half-cocked and did Bren in the head – not a very smart idea, if you think about it!" Brac interrupted, head still hiding in his palm.

"_Brac_ coulda pulled a runner just as easily as me!" Nyx barked in her defense as she glared at her brother, "I dunno why he's any special exception to the…"

"Alright, you know what?" Alec spoke up in a tone loud enough to make himself heard, but completely calm and even a little unassuming, "I think we've done enough arguing. How about we all just let things slide a little more, huh?"

Brac's head actually resurfaced at the statement and Nyx's mouth dropped open a whole inch with surprise.

"I mean, think about it." Alec raised his eyebrows as his gaze shifted from his mate to his daughter to his son in sequence, "All the shit we've had lately? We've come so close to losing each other," His lips curled into a slight, ever-so-slight smile, but it was as poignant as the brief glimmer of moisture in his bright green eyes, "so many times, I don't even wanna think…" He paused and swallowed heavily as his eyes swept the floor for a moment.

Brac's eyebrows tilted up and his eyes watered as he sucked on his cheeks and stole a glance at Nyx and Max, both of whom were eyeing the ground in front of them intently.

Alec sighed heavily and shook his head, "I dunno. All I'm sayin' is that life's damn short. And I for one am not gonna waste another second of it cussing out the people I love from this point in time if I can help it."

Max nodded her agreement instantly.

"Sounds like a plan." She smiled at nothing in particular (and everything at once) as she rose to her feet.

"Seconded." Brac stated quietly, and Max's smile widened as she walked behind him and wrapped her arms across his shoulders.

Nyx was evidently grappling with a flurry of emotions, her jaw tightly clenched and her eyes trained stonily on the ground. After a second of complete confusion to all those watching her, she turned and stormed out of the room, the door swinging shut behind her.

* * *

Nyx ignored the chime of her digital watch which notified her that a full hour had passed since she had left the hospital. Well, she hadn't actually left the hospital. Techinally, the small park which was lined with benches and blanketed in frost-covered grass was still hospital grounds.

Nyx shook her head and ran her fingers through her thick brown hair, brushing her bangs away from her face and wincing as she touched the tender lump on the side of her in the process.

She blew out a breath, watching the cloud it created dissolve into the freezing dusk air.

Nyx was deeply engrossed in her thoughts, but not sufficiently immersed in her subconsciousness to miss the prescense hovering behind her bench.

"No, I'm not lost – just brooding." She snapped, eyes still focused on the gravel beneather her feet as she scuffed her tennis shoes back and forth and hoped the intruder would leave sooner rather then later.

"Brac broods. Nyxie spills what's eating her."

Nyx's face lit up immediately and she glanced up enthusiastically as Joshua came around the front of her bench to sit beside her once she scooted up for him.

"Joshua!" She gripped one of his large hands tightly in both of hers and beamed a smile at the nomalie as he spread an arm over the back of her seat.

"Are you meant to be out of bed? I mean, the doctor said that…"

"Don't mope." Joshua flashed an endearing grin, "It's all good with Big Fella."

"If you say so." Nyx shrugged, somewhat unconvinced, as she leant into his side and rested her head on his shoulder, "Mom and Dad are gonna be pissed though. They say they want you better real fast so they can hand you your ass again for takin' off without telling them."

Joshua snorted, "Your parents – not mine, Nyxie. I can handle myself."

"Yeah a lot of us think that way about ourselves." Nyx reminded him dryly and then squinted as something cold and wet hit her forehead. "Awesome!" She glanced up at the sky and then excitedly at Joshua, "Snow!"

"Uh yeah," Joshua, who had been at the receiving end of his fair share of blizzards over the years, was less then impressed with the thin but steady sheet of snowflakes that were beginning to descend. "Awesome. Snow."

"I just hope it's snowing in Seattle." Nyx sighed dramatically as she rested her elbows on her thighs and her chin in her palms, "And that it doesn't all turn to slush before we get home. We build a snowman every year but it's been getting smaller and smaller!"

"Speaking of parents," Joshua bluntly returned to their previous thread of conversation, "Alec and Max are tripping about you. Haven't seen you around."

Nyx shrugged, "I've been here this whole time." Her eyes darkened and she glared into the distance, "God, they're uber-paranoid!"

"You can blame them?" Joshua raised his eyebrows in genuine surprise, and Nyx;'s head snapped up at the question.

"I'm not Brac, Joshua! I don't go charging off into oblivion because I had a bad day, okay?"

"Brac needed to paint new colors," Joshua responded quietly as Nyx scowled at him and he remained unfazed, "Here." He motioned to his chest. "To paint light over dark, you have to scrub off old paint. With turpentine, not nice stuff." Joshua explained and Nyx's gaze returned to the floor as she absently swung her feet back and forth.

"But once you get the dark paint off," Joshua waved a hand in front of him as though picturing his work, "canvas is ready for lighter colors." He turned to Nyx and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Brac is ready to change, Nyx. Already changed, but empty. Like a canvas with no paint."

Nyx inhaled softly and studied her hands.

"It doesn't erase _us_." She whispered, "Me, Mom, Dad. I gave up everything for him. Mom and Dad were going through hell and I risked making it worse for them, risked being the straw that broke the camel's back, just on the off-chance that I could help get Brac home again."

Joshua nodded, "I know." He was quiet for a long minute, and Nyx scraped some dirt from under her fingernail while secretly desperate for the nomalie's response.

When it finally came, it was simple and unassuming – but oh so very true. Just the way Joshua was.

"Maybe Brac's canvas is not the only one that's scrubbed." Joshua stretched out his palm and opened his mouth with a small grin as the snowflakes melted against the heat of his skin, "Maybe you _all_ need new paint again."

Nyx's breath hitched and she hung her head briefly before she felt Joshua take her hand and hold it up.

"What…"

"Here." He seemed excited about the snowdrift all of a sudden as he opened her palm and the tingle of moisture assaulted it. "Snow."

Nyx's lips curled in a bewildered smile, "_Okay_…but what has that got to do with…"

"That old dumpster," Joshua nodded at a gritty-looking trash can a ways off from the pair, "not so ugly anymore, is it?"

Nyx's smile faded as she took in the glittering blanket of white that was beginning to coat the metal and transformed the drab grey into a shimmering tin.

"Sometimes things look so much better when they're a different color." Joshua encouraged, and Nyx shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her.

"Snow melts, Big Fella." She whispered sadly.

"Ah," He returned softly, "but then the flowers start to grow."

Nyx closed her eyes tightly and began to cry. She nodded and smiled as Joshua wraped his arm tightly around her, rocking slowly back and forth in the manner which had comforted him and still had the same effect.

"Gonna have the biggest, fattest snowman ever this year, Nyxie." He assured her, and between her tears, Nyx managed to burst out laughing as she wiped her nose on her sleeve and batted away the hand Joshua ruffled through her hair.

"But please don't call it 'Guilbert' this time."

* * *

It was six o'clock PM by the time Brac finally succumbed to sleep, to the great relief of Max and Alec, who had sat by his bed and kept up a steady stream of banter until he had eventually dozed off.

Nyx had shown up long enough to apologize for taking off and extend the proverbial hand of friendship to her family before heading off to have dinner with Joshua and Mole, who had woken up severely cranky but in better condition.

"You know, it's funny." Max cracked a grin as she watched Brac's chest rise and fall in steady rhythm.

"What?" Alec prodded with a yawn as he leant back in his chair and squeezed Max's hand fleetingly.

"Even all beat up, he still looks like an angel when he's sleeping." She responded, and then her eyes met Alec's before they both burst into muted laughter.

"Hey, you wanna grab a bite?" Alec stood up and stretched, ignoring the eyebrow raise Max sent his way as he did so. "What? Max, I wanna take my honey to the most romantic joint around…" He paused and scrunched up his eyebrows, "…which just happens to be the cafeteria a couple floors down, but hey! Give a guy a break!"

Max smiled and shook her head as she allowed Alec to help her to feet and pulled on her sweater, "Girl gets kinda lonesome when her boy sets his sight on a foot-long sub."

"Oh no, no fast food for us. We are gonna eat…" Alec magnanimously waved a hand in front of him, "…spaghetti."

"Good luck with finding any in this joint." Max snickered coolly, and then cupped her hand over her mouth to smother a shriek as Alec pinched her ass in retaliation.

"Have a lil' faith, woman, for crying out loud!" He gave her token shoulder shake and then wrapped an arm around her waist. "We're also gonna score ourselves a bottle of pre-Pulse red, since I know you dig the stuff."

At this Max had to gape in unabashed disbelief, "You're seriously gonna try finding a bottle of pre-Pulse wine in a hospital?"

"Funny things do happen." Alec responded casually as he checked the monitors and IV drips surrounding Brac's bed to ensure all was well.

"Alec, we can't just go chasing one of your random ideas! Who's gonna stick with Brac?" Max protested despite herself.

"I called in a favour." Alec tilted his head and flashed a triumphant half-smirk, eyes focused over Max's shoulder towards the door.

She turned around suspiciously and was met with the form of a slim young blonde hovering tentatively in the doorway.

"Hi, Max."

Max smiled warmly and motioned for the girl to come inside, "Hey, Casey! How's it going with the recovery? Isn't this a long way for you to come?"

"Oh I've been out of the woods for a while." Casey returned Max's smile gratefully and her voice trailed off into a whisper as she noted Brac's sleeping frame, "As soon as Logan got the call from you guys about finding Brac, he told me and I wanted to come up right away. He and Asha weren't able to make it till tomorrow, so I took the first flight out and crashed at a hotel."

"I called her a couple hours ago." Alec filled in the final blank at Max's behest.

"And I couldn't have been more thrilled to come." Casey finished as she sat down beside Brac's bed and took a moment to appraise him forlornly. "If he wakes up, should I…"

"Just tell him we went to get dinner and make sure he eats that." Alec emphasized the latter part of his statement as he raised his eyebrows and pointed at the jello cartons on the desk.

"Yes, sir!" Casey saluted him and she missed the lucid, 'smart-ass' scowl Alec tossed her way as she reached into her backpack. "Oh, I almost forgot. Logan was more then happy to send this over." She produced a bottle of vintage red wine and handed it to Max, whose jaw dropped open as she accepted it from the girl before turning to shake her head at Alec's smug smirk.

"Shut up." Max cuffed him on the shoulder and he laughed out loud in response, waving two fingers at Casey before the X5s left the room.

Casey smiled to herself as she watched the pair shut the door quietly behind them while engaging in playful jab-and-counter-jab that echoed the full extent of just how much Max and Alec had missed their quality time together.

"They gone yet?"

Casey jumped at the muffled query and glanced down to see Brac, eyes still closed, wearing a barely-existent smile.

"Uh…yeah." She tucked a wisp of hair behind her ear and cleared her throat, "You're meant to be asleep."

"And you're meant to be in Southview." He cracked an eye open to pin her with a stare before sticking out his tongue and letting out a laugh.

Casey chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Well I'm here now, so suck it up."

"No, actually that's _your_ job." He shot back as he opened both eyes and focused them on her.

Casey stiffened uncomfortably and Brac shook his head apologetically.

"Sorry. Old habits die hard." He nodded at her, "You're the last person on earth…"

"Oh thanks a lot!"

"…I'd wanna treat that way." Brac finished, unfazed, and Casey pursed her lips before digging into her backpack.

"I thought you were gonna be dead out this whole time, so I uh…I brought a book…" She raised her eyebrows as Brac snorted. "What?!"

"Nothin'. What'd you bring?"

"My ultimate favorite." Casey held up a worn, thickly-bound paperback with a raise of her eyebrow, "It's a classic, I'll have you know, though way before your time!"

"And yours." Brac retorted with a mock-sardonic air at which Casey had to laugh.

"Look, if you don't wanna hear it…"

"It's fine." Brac moved to rest his hands behind his head and offered Casey a genuinely curious expression, "They're gonna be at it for a while, trust me."

Casey smirked at the sour tang to Brac's words and the grimace that crossed his bruised face while he said it.

After a moment, she sighed. "Fine, you win." Her eyes shot upwards and she pointed a finger at him, "But you make fun of it, we're done!"

"Good gadz, woman!" Brac groaned in frustration with a broad grin across his face and a warmth to his eyes that suggested the contrary, "Just read the freaking book already!"

Casey squared her shoulder and raised her eyebrows, "Okay."

Leaning back in her chair, opening the book to the appropriate page, Casey closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

The two had shared a binding tie, an experience which not only created but enriched common ground that had been previously nonexistent.

He wanted to move on.

She wanted to move on.

They all wanted to move on.

Casey hadn't known Brac prior to their time together, but somehow at the core of her being she knew that the boy before her was altered irrevocably.

Just like she was.

But that didn't have to be a bad thing.

They weren't going to _let_ it be a bad thing.

Clearing her throat, Casey's eyes fluttered up briefly to watch as Brac settled back on his pillow and closed his eyes, his face a picture of complete contentment.

She smiled to herself and knew he would be fine.

They would be fine.

Thumbing the page, Casey began to read in a soft yet steady voice.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…"

- FIN -


End file.
